Lake George (2024)
Lake George is an offbeat neo-noir that is not quite a thriller and not quite a comedy, but writer/director Jeffrey Reiner balances it all so well.
Excellent character actor Shea Whigham
plays Don, a white collar criminal fresh out of prison. He visits Armen (Glenn
Fleshler), an Armenian gangster who owes Don $60,000. Armen doesn't want to
give up the money so fast. In fact, the gangster wants his girlfriend, Phyllis
(Carrie Coon), to be "taken care of" because she knows far too much about his
underhanded dealings—and he wants Don to do the deed.
The problem is that Don isn't a killer,
and all he wants is his money so he can live a peaceful existence in a remote
cabin on Lake George. With the persuasion of physical violence on Armen's part,
Don reluctantly goes along with the proposed plan.
Instead of killing Phyllis, Don kidnaps
her with the idea of taking her to Washington state so the L.A.-based Armen
wouldn't find her. Phyllis, however, tells Don that she knows many of the
different houses where Armen stashes his cash and that both them can make off
with much more than $60,000.
The bulk of the movie is Don and
Phyllis traveling together, and their back and forth is great thanks to snappy
dialog and shrewd performances by Whigham and Coon. Phyllis is daffy and chatty
but, underneath that exterior, she is calculated and knows how to play both Don
and Armen. You are never sure if she is going to betray Don or not.
The character of Don is the opposite of
Phyllis, as he is often quiet, but his silence brilliantly displays his
emotional depth. You really do care about the fate of Whigham's character.
Lake George is currently playing
at the Prytania Theatres at Canal Place.
