I know Clark Duke primarily as an actor from the mostly horrible post-Charlie Sheen episodes of the television show Two and a Half Men. Now he has directed, co-written, and co-stars, along with Liam Hemsworth, in "Arkansas," a drug-dealing drama with a dash of dark comedy squeezed into it. It has a very interesting cast, including the greats John Malkovitch and Michael Kenneth Williams in relatively small roles.
There have been thousands of films focused on mobsters and drug dealing, but most are centered on big cities like New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles, and countries like Italy and Mexico. "Arkansas," not surprisingly, takes place in Arkansas, and entirely nowhere near a big city.
Kyle (Hemsworth) and Swin (Duke) have almost by accident found themselves cogs in a large assemblage of characters that are part of a vast drug-dealing mob where almost everyone has no idea who is running it, and everyone seems to know only one other participant in the entire operation. The only thing everyone knows is that the guy in charge is called Frog.
Once solidly in the crime web, Kyle and Swin pose as park rangers as a cover for their primary careers, under the direction of Bright (Malkovich) who is also a park ranger by day. Their supplier is Her (Vivica A. Fox).
Revealing any more details would ruin "Arkansas" if you do end up seeing it. It's wildly uneven, but all of the performances feel real, which means that Duke might have a real future as a director. In some ways it is a disjointed mess, but it's still an awful lot of fun. Certainly it's more fun than going to Arkansas itself, so I suggest you see the film instead.
| Movie title | Arkansas |
|---|---|
| Release year | 2020 |
| MPAA Rating | R |
| Our rating | |
| Summary | Clark Duke makes a promising directoral debut with this story about drug dealing in Arkansas. It's all over the place, but still worth watching. |
