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Suburbicon
Stars: Matt Damon, Julianne Moore, Oscar Isaac, Glenn Fleshler, Alex Hassell, Marah Fairclough, Megan Ferguson, Noah Jupe, Michael D Cohen, Jack Conley, Diane Dehn, Tim Neff, Gary Basaraba, Emily Goss
Director: George Clooney
The Coen Brothers began writing this satire - Clooney's latest big-screen directorial stab - back in the 1980s, pitching it to him a few years later when the project was mothballed.
Perhaps it should have stayed that way.
Here Clooney, reworking the original screenplay with his fellow producer Grant Heslov and also directing, delivers a full-fat turkey which offers few if any, opportunities for audience thanksgiving.
The most impressive aspect of the story is the evocatively-realised all-American Saturday Evening Post-style community against which the dual story of duplicitous Damon, whose wife (Moore) is killed by home invaders, unfolds.
Her place in the household is taken by her sister Margaret (also played by Moore) and events take on a darker hue - she dyes her hair - and become more sinister when she starts to mirror her sister, and she and Damon have sex. After which, the mock-Hitchcockian storyline becomes even more feeble and mocks the audience's patience.
Alan Frank
UK/USA 2017. UK Distributor: entertainmentOne. Colour.
98 minutes. Widescreen. UK certificate: 12A.
Guidance ratings (out of 3): Sex/nudity 1, Violence/Horror 2, Drugs 1, Swearing 2.
Review date: 20 Apr 2018