Jason Sudeikis attempts to demonstrate his dramatic bona fides in Aharon Keshales’ follow-up to his 2013 cult hit Big Bad Wolves, but South of Heaven proves an unwieldy vehicle for his efforts. The film is a strange cross between a sappy Love Story-type romance and a noirish Liam Neeson-style crime melodrama in which a sad-sack worm turns into an avenging angel, and the combination of sentimental claptrap and tough-guy mayhem grows increasingly absurd as it progresses.
Sudeikis plays Jimmy Ray, an imprisoned bank robber released to marry Annie (Evangeline Lilly), the loyal girlfriend who is suffering from terminal cancer—though, as usual in such cinematic cases, she looks more beatifically stoic than brutally ill. Jimmy plans to go straight, but his corrupt parole officer (Shea Whigham) forces him to make a delivery to drug kingpin Whit Price (Mike Colter).
After the meeting, he gets in a car accident that kills the other driver—who happens to be one of Price’s couriers—and rather than reporting the accident, he enlists a friend to help him bury the body. Price believes that Jimmy stole his cash and takes Annie hostage to force its return. In retaliation, Jimmy kidnaps—with absurd ease—Price’s son Tommy (Thaddeus J. Mixson) to arrange an exchange. The script now switches into double-odd-couple mode as Whit and Annie settle into amiable sociability and Jimmy and Tommy bicker before coming to an uneasy understanding. This peculiar amity is undermined by yet another road accident, leading to a bloody conclusion that mixes hopefulness with nihilism as Jimmy invades Price’s home to secure safety for himself and Annie.
The finale allows for some virtuoso flourishes by cinematographer Matt Mitchel, whose long tracking shot of Jimmy moving through the stylish house, killing defenders as he goes, is well-executed—even if the action itself not only strains but shatters credibility. The two villains—smooth Colter and snarling Whigham—do good work, but while Sudeikis tries desperately, he fails to convince as a basically good man forced to take up arms. Perhaps next time he will manage to find a screenplay that serves as a better means to show his aptitude for drama, but for now, the issue remains in serious doubt. Not recommended.