Small Town Crime (2017)

An alcoholic and disgraced former cop (John Hawkes) stumbles upon a severely beaten girl in her early 20's, and takes her to the hospital where she dies a short time later. Seeing a chance for redemption and possible re-admittance to the force the man decides he is going to solve what happened to girl, which of course takes him into the seamy underbelly of his seemingly benign small town. A conventional and even done to death story line, but its well handled and gets better as it goes along. The cast is made up largely of no names, with Robert Forster, Anthony Anderson, and Octavia Spencer (who also executive produces) being probably the most recognizable names on the screen, though Blake Lively's older sister Robyn has a small part as well. Though set in the Whittier area of California the movie was actually shot here in Utah, in fact there is a scene shot in The Belgian Waffle and Omelet Inn, an favorite local eatery of mine here in Midvale. Pretty good for a movie of its type I liked that the nefarious plot, once we figure out what is, seems like the kind of stupid scheme some not particularly bright people might actually try to pull off. **1/2