One desolate guy announces: “I pride myself on only having become an alcoholic after I became a failure.” He also explains something of his backstory: “I overslept one morning and the bottom fell out of manufacturing.” Meanwhile, the boozing and the boasting and meaningless slurred arguments continue, to the soundtrack of Michael Jackson, Patsy Cline and Kenny Rogers’ The Gambler (twice). If he doesnít transition to a full-time acting career in the movies, Godís Pocket proves that he can assemble a peerless cast, give them first-rate material, and produce a compact and efficient film thatís deep without being pretentious.The result is sometimes heart-rending and sometimes hilarious. Slattery often provides the comic relief on Mad Men, and heís laced this script with laughs that offset the quiet sadness and desperation that permeate this very American tale of knowing your place.
POCKET SMOOVIE REVIEW FULL
Jenkins goes into full hangdog mode for much of the movie, but the characterís alcoholism curdles it into something that comes close to revulsion - heís rarely played someone so unlikable, even though heís just as engaging as ever. He also gets the single funniest scene, in which he has to explain to his wife why her sonís corpse was in his refrigerated truck.
As he has in the past, Hoffman uses his formidable bulk and physicality to own the screen. Heís played losers before, and Mickey is a guy who knows that he wonít win every time, but hopes that he can win enough to get by. This fact seals the intertwined fates of outsiders Mickey and Richard. Itís the kind of place where newcomers, no matter how long they stay, are never fully trusted. The opening voice-over lets us know that this is a violent, hardscrabble neighborhood where men steal, fight, and make peace over a beer at one of the two local bars. They comprehend the meaninglessness of their lives, yet theyíre still proud of who they are and where they come from.
POCKET SMOOVIE REVIEW MOVIE
Slattery, who co-wrote the movie with Alex Metcalf, is far more interested in these characters than the plot, and he captures them in all of their complicated glory. He visits Jeanie to profile her dead son, and she confesses to him that she doesnít think his co-workers are telling the truth about what happened. Watching over this rough-and-tumble community is newspaper columnist Richard Shellburn (Jenkins), who writes poetic pieces about the dignity of the locals while remaining continually soused and on the prowl for attractive young women he can sleep with. He talks his best friend Bird (Turturro) into betting on a horse he has a tip on, and Bird goes along with the scheme in order to pay off his own debts to a local gangster named Sal Cappi (Domenick Lombardozzi). Mickey, always down on his luck financially, has to scrape together enough money to pay combative funeral-home owner Jack Moran (Eddie Marsan) for the service his grieving wife wants for her boy. Young Leon works at a construction site, and one day his overt racism and all-around unlikability lead to his murder at the hands of a co-worker (the entire crew claim it was a workplace accident). Hoffman stars as Mickey Scarpato, who lives in the gritty, blue-collar neighborhood of Godís Pocket with his wife Jeanie (Christina Hendricks), a lifelong resident of the Pocket, and his stepson Leon (Caleb Landry Jones). As expected from a seasoned performer moving behind the camera, Slattery gets superb work from his cast with top-shelf talents like Philip Seymour Hoffman, John Turturro, and Richard Jenkins, he fashions a confident and promising first film. A multiple Emmy nominee for his work on Mad Men, actor John Slattery makes his feature directorial debut with Godís Pocket, an adaptation of award-winning author Pete Dexterís first novel.
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