I found this movie on Netflix streaming movies. It is a rather quiet movie, often seems like not much is happening, but it is an interesting character study and Wes Bentley is superb.
It happens in real life, I've seen it on the news, an otherwise honorable family man will turn to crime, usually some sort of theft, and we later find out (after he is captured) that he was just trying to make ends meet. This is the essence of this fictional story.
Wes Bentley is insurance adjuster Bill Scanlon. But he is a bit too honest for this job, and his employer thinks his adjusters should make it more difficult for clients to collect when they have a claim. He lets Bill go. But Bill has a nice home in the Albuquerque area, plus a wife and two young sons.
Bill is too embarrassed to tell them, he continues to appear to go to work while trying to figure out ways to keep away foreclosure and loss of his car. He resorts to pawning what he has that is most valuable.
Sinking deeper into a funk Bill takes the gun he had saved from his dad, a former police officer, goes into the desert to contemplate his options, it seems he is even thinking suicide might be the answer. But he doesn't and wanders over to a new housing complex to find water. It is mostly deserted but as he wanders around a model home hears noises and walks in on a couple, not married to each other, having loud sex in a side room.
Startled and seeing a gun in his hand they began to ask him not to shoot, they offered Bill all their money, and tell him "No one can find out about this." Bill was bewildered, he wandered into theft quite by accident, but it gave him an idea. This might just be his ticket out of debt, at least until he gets a new job.
The story is well-written and authentic. Vinessa Shaw who plays his wife Susan Scanlon begins to get suspicious. As does new friend Jason Isaacs as detective Frank McTiernan, who it seemed had quite accidentally met Bill at a bowling alley but in fact had known about Bill's dad.
Good movie, better than its rather low IMDb rating might indicate. Wes Bentley is just super in this role and it makes one think "What would I do if I found myself in that situation?" Bill never started out to be a thief, he just stumbled into it. But where will it lead and what will it end up being?
SPOILERS: Soon some other man gets arrested and charged with the thefts that Bill had done. Being basically a good and caring person he wanted to do something to help, he even looked up the man's house and was going to leave a gift. But McTiernan by that time had pretty much figured out it was Scanlon and gave him some advice. Bill managed to let it go, later we see him as a real estate agent and he is showing a home for sale. He has gotten back on his feet, but as he later drives through town and stops at a light, he sees the police station across from him, the movie ends as we assume he is still mulling over whether he should admit to what he has done.
It happens in real life, I've seen it on the news, an otherwise honorable family man will turn to crime, usually some sort of theft, and we later find out (after he is captured) that he was just trying to make ends meet. This is the essence of this fictional story.
Wes Bentley is insurance adjuster Bill Scanlon. But he is a bit too honest for this job, and his employer thinks his adjusters should make it more difficult for clients to collect when they have a claim. He lets Bill go. But Bill has a nice home in the Albuquerque area, plus a wife and two young sons.
Bill is too embarrassed to tell them, he continues to appear to go to work while trying to figure out ways to keep away foreclosure and loss of his car. He resorts to pawning what he has that is most valuable.
Sinking deeper into a funk Bill takes the gun he had saved from his dad, a former police officer, goes into the desert to contemplate his options, it seems he is even thinking suicide might be the answer. But he doesn't and wanders over to a new housing complex to find water. It is mostly deserted but as he wanders around a model home hears noises and walks in on a couple, not married to each other, having loud sex in a side room.
Startled and seeing a gun in his hand they began to ask him not to shoot, they offered Bill all their money, and tell him "No one can find out about this." Bill was bewildered, he wandered into theft quite by accident, but it gave him an idea. This might just be his ticket out of debt, at least until he gets a new job.
The story is well-written and authentic. Vinessa Shaw who plays his wife Susan Scanlon begins to get suspicious. As does new friend Jason Isaacs as detective Frank McTiernan, who it seemed had quite accidentally met Bill at a bowling alley but in fact had known about Bill's dad.
Good movie, better than its rather low IMDb rating might indicate. Wes Bentley is just super in this role and it makes one think "What would I do if I found myself in that situation?" Bill never started out to be a thief, he just stumbled into it. But where will it lead and what will it end up being?
SPOILERS: Soon some other man gets arrested and charged with the thefts that Bill had done. Being basically a good and caring person he wanted to do something to help, he even looked up the man's house and was going to leave a gift. But McTiernan by that time had pretty much figured out it was Scanlon and gave him some advice. Bill managed to let it go, later we see him as a real estate agent and he is showing a home for sale. He has gotten back on his feet, but as he later drives through town and stops at a light, he sees the police station across from him, the movie ends as we assume he is still mulling over whether he should admit to what he has done.