Route 9 Reviews

Small-town deputy Booth Parker (Kyle MacLachlan) divides his time between bailing his partner Earl Whitney (Wade Andrew William) out of financial scrapes, and sleeping with Sally Hogan (Amy Locane), the abused wife of Sheriff Dwayne Hogan (Peter Coyote). Things quickly change, however, when a big-city drug deal goes sour on the outskirts of this Texas hicksville. In the aftermath of a shoot-out, Earl persuades Booth to keep the dealers' dough. When one of the dying perps, Denning (Silas Weir Mitchell), shows signs of life, Earl smothers him. Unfortunately, Denning was really working undercover for the DEA, which sends investigator Ellen Marks (Roma Maffia) to discover how he died. As if Ellen's snooping wasn't enough, the town coroner Jesse Segundo (Miguel Sandoval) finds Denning's concealed tape recorder, which contains incriminating evidence. This film noir manque is the poor man's SIMPLE PLAN. In a good thriller, the psychological current gets faster and more powerful by the moment; on this slow boat to just desserts, you feel as if you could jump off at any point. Williams effectively underplays his redneck character with submerged rage, and thank God for Maffia's no-nonsense presence; she gives this investigation some much-needed credibility and class.