Spoiler-Free Review:
The Death of Dick Long is a bit of a mystery. Three guys are partying one night, and one of them ends up dead. The other two are somehow involved, and they try to cover up their role in whatever happened. The truth eventually gets there, though.
This film is not for the faint of heart. While it’s not very gory, it covers some topics that some filmgoers will find unpleasant. You will likely not believe the outcome, but it does make sense. Its not everyone’s cup of tea, but I’ll admit, I liked it. I’m on the fence about recommending it or not.
Standard Review (with minor plot spoilers):
The movie starts out with a bunch of guys practicing with their band, and then they start drinking and smokin. Then, they leave the house. It’s the next day, and Zeke and Earl (Michael Abbott Jr. and Andre Hyland) are hoping no one links them to the death. Problem is, they dumped him outside the hospital, where he died. These guys are dumb. Really dumb. Box of Rocks dumb. Oh yeah, and it’s a good friend of theirs that’s dead. They make plans to hide their participation, but miss major flaws in their thinking. Earl is fired again for leaving his job to take care of things. Zeke is trying to hide everything from his wife Lydia (Virginia Newcomb) and daughter Cynthia (Poppy Cunningham), but reality and logic just aren’t part of their plan, if you could call it one.
The police are called in by the hospital, after the body is discovered, but with no ID. Officer Dudley (Sarah Baker) tries to get the cause of death of the man, and her process leads down a rathole filled with clues. Things start falling into place. The Doctor performing the autopsy is Roy Wood Jr, and he’s trying to get to the bottom of it all, butt it’s quite puzzling, to him.
People have likened it to Fargo, but it’s not as involving. I will say, I was entertained by it. It plays out with some flashbacks, and you can deduce what actually happened as the movie moves forward. In a way, it reminded me of the plot for The Hangover, but it’s reasonably compelling. As a side note, I feel that Virginia Newcomb should be mentioned for her work here. Her acting is the glue that kept me engaged in the film. You do expect all the pieces to fall together, and they eventually do, just in a rather weird way.
There are good and bad bits to the film. These guys are trying to cover up their activities, by doing things they’ve seen on TV and in the movies. Problem is that in their situation, they don’t manage to think about what would’ve happened before, and can’t tie it all together. It bugged me a little that they could get creative with coming up with plans, but kept failing to get their stories straight. They kept making things worse by heaping lies onto their lies. It was like they were smart dumb guys, if that’s a thing.