Yesterday was Juneteenth so I had the day off. "Juneteenth marks our country’s second independence day. Although it has long been celebrated in the African American community, this monumental event remains largely unknown to most Americans. The historical legacy of Juneteenth shows the value of never giving up hope in uncertain times." Please feel free to google Juneteenth to get a proper description of this new federal holiday.
Anyway, since I was home, Brie was sleeping and Kitty was at water aerobics at the Y, I had the morning to myself! When this rare event occurs, I look for a good movie to watch. Going to the Guide, I hunted through channels until I saw something entitled "Midnight in the Switchgrass" from 2021. What the heck was this?
It turned out to be probably one of the last movies Bruce Willis made before his diagnosis, although he did show signs of aphasia while filming. I love Bruce Willis, but a couple of the other actors gave me pause. Megan Fox? Machine Gun Kelly? Did I really want to see them? I didn't recognize anyone else's name. The info said "Two FBI agents cross paths with Crawford, a Florida cop who's investigating a string of murders that appear to be related. When an undercover sting goes horribly wrong, Crawford soon finds himself in a twisted game of cat and mouse with the killer." Megan Fox was the FBI agent, Bruce Willis her FBI higher-up, Emile Hirsch was the Florida state officer and Lukas Haas was the serial killer. I thought he looked familiar but couldn't place him. He used to be a creepy child actor, so he fit this role as an adult. Machine Gun Kelly was the loser (think silver mouth grille and tattoos) who ran the seedy motel where the hookups / abductions took place. And of course he had a couple of gratuitous scenes with Megan Fox since he only took the role to meet her. The rest is history, as they say.
The suspense was really good. It was one of those movies where they let you know early who the bad guy is, but then you have to go along with the cops to figure out how they will discover his identity and hopefully catch him. There are parts where you wonder who might still be alive at the end. Will any of the girls be found alive? The law enforcement officers? Family members? You have to stick around to find out! And surprisingly: it's based on a true story of Texas' most dangerous serial killer, but moved the location to Florida.
Don't get me wrong: it isn't a perfect movie, but it did keep me on the edge of my seat and had me looking away a couple of times. It made absolutely no money at the box office (think less than $1 million). But for a rating, I give it more than Rotten Tomatoes did. I give it 3.5 out of 5 stars. It's a solid crime thriller, and I would watch it again. I hope you get a chance to check it out. I don't think you'll regret it!
By the way, Sylvester Stallone's daughter Sistine Stallone has a small part. As for the movie title: it refers to a switchgrass field in Florida where the killer keeps some of his victims captive. Truth is stranger than fiction.
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