Arkansas

They say every actor dreams of stepping behind the camera, but few nail the transition. Sex Drive and Hot Tub Time Machine star Clark Duke proves this idea right in the worst ways with Arkansas, an underwhelming and overly complicated crime thriller set in the deep South. 

Starring Duke and Liam Hemsworth as unlikely friends forced to work together through their low-level positions under a regional drug dealer named Frog (Vince Vaughn), Arkansas tries to break new ground by mashing together the offbeat small-town charm of Logan Lucky with the self-aware storytelling of early Tarantino. Hemsworth is the typical “too smart for his own good” tough guy, while Duke portrays the wise-cracking smartass who hides his ignorance with likability. Neither characters enjoys the other all that much, but after finding themselves working for an unpredictable park ranger drug dealer (John Malkovich), they find common ground in their mutual desire to make money.

As these things tend to go, however, Duke and Hemsworth soon find themselves in a heap of trouble with no way out. Viewers may find themselves captivated by the excitement of the chaos, but the film quickly pivots to tell the origin story of Frog for nearly one-third of the total runtime. It's an entirely different story, set decades prior, that primarily features characters who rarely appear elsewhere in the film — and the juxtaposition between stories completely derails the energy of the film.

Something is maddening about a film with a cast as talented as Arkansas’ failing to make you feel something. Duke's script never provides a single reason to care about anyone on the screen or the things that happen to him, and the clunky structure only emphasizes the shallow nature of the story. The assumption seems to be that viewers will care about people because they recognize them from other features — as if Vaughn's work in Wedding Crashers and Old School will make us concerned for his troubled drug empire, or Hemsworth's work in every script his brother passes on will cause us to root for him.

I've said it before, and I'll repeat it: The only thing worse than a bad movie is a movie that falls short of its potential. For all its visual flair and likable casting, Arkansas is frustratingly dull and devoid of heart. It seems comfortable to meander without a sense of direction, but it never sufficiently commits to the easygoing attitude it promotes to sell us on its rambling being a choice rather than a shortcoming on the part of its script. Watching this film is similar to convincing yourself that fast food is a good dinner option — it may be identical to something genuinely satisfying, but, at best, it's a cheap imitation you immediately regret.

Grade: C-minus. Rated R. Available to rent via Amazon Video, Google Play, iTunes, and YouTube

(Photo: Lionsgate)