Midnight in the Switchgrass

_**A serial killer stalks the Interstate in northern Florida**_ The bodies of seven young women are found along I-10 in the Panhandle of Florida, mostly prostitutes that service truckers at rest stops. A determined State officer (Emile Hirsch) and an equally resolute FBI agent (Megan Fox) team-up to find the murderer. Lukas Haas is also on hand while Bruce Willis has a small role. "Midnight in the Switchgrass" (2021) is a crime drama/thriller that cost $15 million and was inspired by serial killer Robert Ben Rhoades, aka The Truck Stop Killer. It combines the typical film noir-ish detective story of “Kiss the Girls” (1997) with elements of “The Onion Field” (1979), “Breakdown” (1997) and “Butchers” (2020). Both Emile Hirsch and Lukas Haas stand out on the acting front with convincing performances. A few of the peripherals are notable as well (e.g. the little daughter, her mother, the captured teen girl and the neighbor). Willis was hired for name-recognition and did all his scenes in one day, which is obvious. But, since his part is so small, it's not a major drawback. As for Megan Fox, no producer hires her because she's Meryl Streep, but rather because she's stunning. That said, I think she did a fine job, except for a couple scenes with Bruce (where they were obviously pressed for time). Speaking of Fox, I haven’t seen her in a movie for ten years. She turned 34 during shooting and is more alluring than ever. Meanwhile winsome Caitlin Carmichael was almost 16 during shooting and is surprisingly remarkable as the captive teen. Sistine Rose Stallone (Sylvester’s daughter) is also worth noting on the feminine front. The last act does create some quality suspense. While it's understandably a grey flick that focuses on the ugly side of life, there are rays of reverence, wisdom and hope. Musician Machine Gun Kelly appears in a few sequences with Megan. He must’ve worked his charisma on her because, although she was married for a decade to Brian Austin Green at the time, the two would start dating and are currently engaged. The film runs 1 hour, 39 minutes, and was shot in Pensacola, Puerto Rico and Cincinnati (filming was interrupted at midpoint due to the plandemic and so alternative plans had to be made for completion). GRADE: B-/B

Generally I love crime-thrillers (both fiction and non-fiction) and this had some good elements, but the editing was shoddy, performances uneven with Bruce Willis once again phoning it in. He has maybe 10-minutes of a screentime and is a non-factor with the plot outside of being Megan Fox's partner who disappears only to briefly show up at the end. As for Fox she at least was okay, though not entirely believable as an FBI agent and Emile Hirsch and his southern accent sounded off, not entirely sure why he had it, didn't really play into his character nor the region. Lukas Haas as the serial killer has his moments though his performance and the character isn't anything different than what had been done on Criminal Minds. Wanted to really like this but never quite works. Has an ending that should've been filled with suspense but instead was awkwardly edited and just was lackluster. **2.25/5**

<em>'Midnight in the Switchgrass'</em> is one I nearly enjoyed. The poster is intentionally misleading, it's one of those Bruce Willis moves (of which there are a fair few) where he turns up for a couple of scenes to support the actual main cast - in this case, Megan Fox and Emile Hirsch. Fox is fairly decent, though Hirsch is probably the standout; at least between Willis, Fox and himself. I actually thought the best performance in this comes from Welker White, who shows some sturdy emotional chops. Lukas Haas is a solid fit for his role too. As you can possibly tell from my wording above, I honestly did come close to liking this movie. It's just missing that necessary something, as I type this review I do feel like I wanted more from it. This film did at least generate the (short-lived) Machine Gun Kelly x Megan Fox power couple...