The exciting, clever bang-up finale to “Maggie Moore(s)” rather softens the disappointing blow that this off-key dark comedy’s first 90 minutes have delivered. I’m not saying that makes the film worth watching, but it makes this Jon Hamm and Tina Fey vehicle a much closer call than it might have been.
An “inspired by a true story” tale of the bizarre murders of two women with the same name, it’s basically a sweet (ish) rom-com starring old friends and sometime collaborators Fey and Hamm pasted over a deadpan (ish) “Only Murders in New Mexico” mystery.
There are many “ishes” here — funny(ish), exciting(ish), clever(ish), cute(ish). They don’t add up to a wholly satisfying experience, despite that killer combo of leads.
What Hamm’s “Mad Men” co-star and sometime director John Slattery and screenwriter Paul Bernbaum conjure up is a “Columbo” styled “We know whodunit, but will they get away with it?” comedy with cruelty, corpses and a touch of Cohen Brothers rube-comedy absurdism.
Hamm plays the police chief in a town big enough to have maybe five cops and a casino, small enough to have only two “Maggie Moores.”
One of them (Louisa Krause) is married to a short-cuts taking sub-shop franchisee (Micah Stock of TV’s “Bonding”). Jay Moore is buying and serving expired meats, cheeses and ingredients rather than buying those products from his franchiser. That’s got him in business with the shady ex-con Tommy D (Derek Basco).
And that’s why Jay’s side-hustle includes distributing child porn. The waitress wife finds out, threatens to tell the cops, and Jay needs somebody to “scare” her out of that notion. Not to worry. Tommy D “knows a guy.”
Bizarre turn number one — the “guy” (hulking Happy Anderson) is deaf. He takes “contracts” by reading lips and passing notes, which he destroys with the shredder he keeps at hand for such cover-ups. The goon with the unlikely name “Kosco” is also not fond of loose ends.
“Scare her” isn’t where he stops. Suddenly, Jay’s got a dead wife, her car burnt in the desert and a neighbor (Fey) who heard them fighting.
Luckily for Jay the cops are nobody’s idea of “Columbo.” The chief (Hamm) is serious-minded, and grieving a dead wife. His Brit-immigrant sidekick (Nick Mohammed) is here for the one-liners.
“We have a victim who is unable to yield any clues because of her…”
“Crispiness?”
Jay’s the obvious suspect. But bizarre turn number two is when he realizes there are two “Maggies,” so he comes up with a plan and the cash to have another Maggie (Mary Holland) attacked, to throw the police off the scent.
Matters get messier and more bizarre as the second Maggie turns out to have an anti-Semitic enemy from work and a cheating husband (Christopher Denham) who isn’t any more torn-up about his Maggie’s death than Jay Moore seems to be.
Lots of suspects, a chief who takes a shine to one of the witnesses — neighbor Rita (Fey) — and a partner who is looking for the next joke, not a logical chain of evidence, so maybe the real killer will never be caught.
Fey and Hamm have an easy rapport that doesn’t really lead to sparks. But it’s cute seeing him play “the vulnerable one” in this pairing, considering their “30 Rock” relationship.
The performances that seem properly pitched to match the material are around the edges — a brazen casino waitress (Bobbi Kitten) here, a sassy store clerk (Oona Roche) there.
The problem is that the serious stuff is barely more interesting than the funny stuff — maybe six chuckles — is amusing.
You’re kind of left with the nagging feeling that this could work or could have worked with a more deft touch at the wordprocessor or sitting behind the camera on set.
Funny “ish” and twisty “ish” don’t quite get it done.
Rating: R for (profanity) throughout, violence, some sexual material, brief nudity and drug use
Cast: Jon Hamm, Tina Fey, Nick Mohammed, Christopher Denham, Micah Stock, Happy Anderson, Derek Basco, with Mary Holland and Louisa Krause.
Credits: Directed by John Slattery, scripted by Paul Bernbaum. A Screen Media release.
Running time: 1:39
