I watched Shimmer Lake just yesterday, and I spent some time mulling it over. I think I enjoyed what it did, but I also think that it felt like it was trying a bit too hard throughout. It needs the structure that it has, a backwards chronology that shows viewers the end result of a crime eventually revealed in full before the end credits, but that also makes the whole thing seem a bit too cute, and occasionally bordering on the smug.
As things begin, Andy Sikes (Rainn Wilson) is hiding out after his suspected role in a bank robbery. His police officer brother, Zeke (Benjamin Walker), is searching for him, but Andy is due to meet up with Steph (Stephanie Sigman), with the two then heading off together with their stash of cash.
Writer-director Oren Uziel (making his directing debut, although he already has a number of screenplay credits from the last dozen years) does a decent job, complementing his script with an interesting variety of actors, some you might not expect in this kind of tale. It is telling, however, that he doesn’t really do anything more with the material, unable to add any visual style or freshness to the whole thing. At least the script and cast DO work, but something more was needed.
Wilson is very good in his role, although also slightly underused, and both Walker and Sigman do well in their pivotal roles, portraying their characters in a way that allows the layers to be peeled off en route to the end of the film/start of the whole chain reaction. Rob Corddry and Ron Livingston have a couple of scenes in which they play FBI agents, John Michael Higgins steals a couple of scenes, and Wyatt Russell once again shows his knack for picking projects he at least considers interesting enough to give his time and energy to. There are a number of other fun supporting turns, Adam Pally and Mark Rendall also doing very good work, and Uziel arguably saves himself some embarrassment by casting so well.
It’s all about that structuring though, and Uziel seems to put a bit too much faith in his own writing. It isn’t an original idea, and every new “surprise” ends up being undermined by the information already made available as everything uncoils. In the most basic way, it’s all perfectly fine. It is missing something to make it good though. It’s an unseasoned meal, or a scoop of distinctly average vanilla ice cream without any sauce or sprinkles. Acceptable, digestible, but nothing to revisit in a hurry, if ever.
5/10
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