Cert 15 Stars 3

Vince Vaughn once again demonstrates he’s so much better when not trying to be funny in this meandering hard boiled modern day thriller based on the novel by John Brandon, which digs deep into the American dream and comes out covered in nihilism, filth and death.

With a brawny menacing charm Vaughn plays a mysterious and ruthless gangster called ‘Frog’ who’s based in rural Arkansas, where the crime is more disorganised rather than otherwise.

He becomes involved with a pair of non-too clever low level drug dealers who are struggling to dispose of a couple of cadavers and events spiral out of control.

The dimwitted duo are played by Liam Hemsworth and Clark Duke, the latter miscasting himself in his directorial debut as the overly confident and talkative ‘brains’ of the operation.

Although Duke struggles with meshing the comic moments and the violence, he succeeds in obtaining some entertaining performances from his cast which includes Michael Kenneth Williams, Vivica A. Fox and John Malkovich as a far from clean cop.