LAKE GEORGE - Mark Reviews Movies

Lake George, Magnet Releasing

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Review by Mark Dujsik | December 5, 2024

As soon as we meet him, it's obvious that Don (Shea Whigham) is in over his head, and getting to know him more only confirms that. In his current condition at the start of Lake George, Don lives out of a motel room. He has a family, who refuse to take or return his calls because he just got out of a long stint in prison. As for any means of supporting himself, all of the contacts he had and who promised to give him work after his release either have changed their minds or can't hire anyone at the moment. One of them, in fact, has died while Don was away.

Writer/director Jeffrey Reiner and Whigham have this guy figured to a T. Even his suit, which seems to be the only clothing he owns, is somehow both too big, given the way it bunches around his shoulders, and too small, since his decade in prison has resulted in a bit of a belly. There's no way to feel but pity for this man, who seems nice and earnest enough, regardless of whatever put him in prison.

Once we realize Don is the protagonist in Reiner's neo-noir thriller, it all makes even more sense. He's the ideal patsy for this kind of material—to be constantly wronged, manipulated, abused, and caught up in situations that keep getting worse with every turn. It's as if he's fated to be the poor schlub in a crime tale that revolves around him, because he's too meek, meager, and passive to actually participate in his own story.

Whigham, a great character actor, steps up to this leading role as if it has been waiting for him. There's nothing flashy or even particularly interesting about Don, but the actor makes him fascinating by embracing just how pathetic, dull, and submissive Don is. He will soon be in an elaborate bit of plot, having to do with a murder plan that goes wrong, has him evading even more criminals and, results in more killings than he could ever imagine.

Then again, it's not as if his imagination is much of which to speak, either, so that last one isn't saying much. A lot of people are killed here, and Don thought he'd only have to wrestle with the possibility of one murder.

That order comes Armen (Glenn Fleshler), a local crime lord based in Los Angeles, who technically owes Don tens of thousands of dollars from the deal that wound him up in prison. He'd rather have nothing to do with the crime boss, but with no money or job prospects and only the ill-fitting suit on his back, Don makes the long walk from his motel to Armen's mansion in a nice part of town.

It's not nice enough for the criminal, though, who was expecting a bigger mansion in swankier neighborhood, until the deal that resulted in Don being incarcerated. Now, Armen argues that Don owes him, too, so if he does one job for him, Armen will give Don the money he's owed. Unfortunately for the poor guy, that job is to kill a woman that's causing Armen problems.

With the ultimatum that Armen will kill him if he doesn't kill the woman, Don sets off to find her. She's Phyllis (Carrie Coon), Armen's lover and business associate who has made many of his underlings envious of and uncomfortable with how much stake she has in the organization's various enterprises. Don finds her, restrains her, and drives her out to the desert. When it comes time for him to pull the trigger, though, he cannot, so Phyllis comes up with a scheme that will let both of them escape, disappear, and have a lot of money to start new lives.

The scheme, which has Phyllis leading Don to various places where Armen has hidden his monetary assets, isn't nearly as important to Reiner as the dynamic between these two characters. The story becomes a road trip through California, with Don gradually warming to Phyllis' plan, since he's certainly going to be in trouble if or when Armen discovers he didn't kill her, and Phyllis herself. Of course he does, not only because Coon is so acerbic but disarmingly charming in the role, but also on account of the fact that we know exactly who this guy is. He needs more than guidance in his decision-making, and in proximity to any figure as strong and assertive as Phyllis, Don just goes along, because the poor guy has no backbone.

The big question, obviously, is how much Don should and we actually do trust Phyllis in her plan, her sincerity, and her desire to help this stranger, who has been ordered to murder her. Coon's performance is trickier than just serving as the confident, out-spoken counter to Don's quiet, pensive loser.

She's entirely convincing as someone we know we shouldn't trust, simply because of the circumstances Phyllis finds herself in and her reputation, but Coon also makes the character quite vulnerable and sympathetic toward Don in ways that seem genuine. The plot, which turns a few times as the pair steal from Armen but saves its most surprising twists for an unexpectedly extended third act, is simple enough that everything really does come down to who these characters are, what they actually want, and how far they're willing to go in order to get it.

Despite its gradually winding and weaving plot, the characters do matter in Lake George. In Whigham and Coon, the film possesses a strong duo of contrasting protagonists, whose personalities bounce off each other and whose actions reveal things, both hidden and tragic, about themselves.

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