This Last Lonely Place is a mishmash of various film genres. These genres sometimes work well together. However, sometimes they don’t. The film is a sometimes thrilling yet overall inconsistent experience.
Iraq War veteran Sam Taylor (Rhys Coiro) returns from combat and finds work as a cab driver. Sam is now hearing impaired after an incident in Iraq and is taking fares to raise funds to reunite with his estranged family. Enter sleazy investment banker Frank Devore (Xander Berkeley). Hunted by the SEC, Devore grabs $7 million and enters Sam’s cab. He offers him several hundred dollars to turn the meter off and drive aimlessly. Frank needs time to plot his next move. Sam needs the money. It’s an easy call.
Things escalate when Sam picks up Frank’s main squeeze Faye Gardner (Carly Pope). Faye soon threatens Sam and then demands he be their getaway driver. The majority of the film is the interplay between these three characters, yet the plot takes far too long to get going. Berkeley does his best to vacillate between a smooth con man and a man on the edge. Pope offers light comic relief throughout, but nothing spectacular or worth remembering. Sam is the only relatable character, as he’s just a man trying to do his job thrown into a situation out of his control.
There’s a blatant noir style here, but the film can’t mix that motif with the PTSD and heist elements it so desperately wants to convey. Media librarians for public librarians should consider this title for patrons who enjoy noir and heist films, and those studying the consequences of war.