TrueJoshNight Truly Dreadful Film

Steinesongo Too many fans seem to be blown away

SeeQuant Blending excellent reporting and strong storytelling, this is a disturbing film truly stranger than fiction

Billie Morin This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

Michael Ledo John Moon (Sam Rockwell) is a bad poacher, having been caught three times. He can keep a job, in fact he has kept many of them. He is also not the most careful hunter as he irresponsibly and accidentally shoots a woman (Lana Giacose). As any good citizen, he robs her and hides the body. In fact she has a whole box full of money. Our protagonist is not the nicest person in the world.A couple other things that John is not good at are relationships and hiding money. His wife (Kelly Reilly) wants a divorce as John consults the town's most inexpensive attorney (William Macy) whose judgement in suits and hair pieces leads one to believe he doesn't know how to use a mirror. As it turns out the dead girl had a boyfriend (Ted Levine) who knows John has his money and he wants it back.It is difficult to hide things in a small town as the plot develops some minor complexity. The good, the bad, and the ugly of this film is the fact that it captures the rural flavor of the community with local euphemisms, accents, and slow motion talking. Depending on one's viewpoint, this can make or break the movie. John Moon, is well meaning when it comes to his family, but he is not all good and far from the brightest bulb in the pack.A redneck art film. Not for everyone.Parental Guide: F-bomb, sex, nudity (Amy Sloan).

merklekranz Very disappointing trip through rural West Virginia, that unfortunately leads nowhere. This got off to a promising start, with the accidental shooting of the girl, and the cash stash. William H. Macy's quirky lawyer character is another plus. From here on , "A Single Shot" is a real chore to sit through. At 116 minutes, the film seems way too long for the rather shallow material, and even though the set up was good, the follow through is muddled and lacks momentum. It's really a shame, because the cast gives effort, but everything is dragged down by the under developed script, and lackluster direction. My suggestion is go watch "A Simple Plan" again, rather than wasting time with "A Single Shot". - MERK

Tom The film is dark and moody, some loosely refer to it as noir. The mountainous backwoods locations of West Virginia fit the films atmosphere perfectly. However, there's something very important missing.I've read a couple pages of reviews and am amazed not a single one even hinted at a huge plot piece missing from the film. The main character accidentally shoots a women while hunting, then discovers a large pile of cash in the hovel where she was staying in the woods. He hides the body and takes the money. Soon the bad guys come looking for it. One key question: why do they even suspect who did the killing and took the money? There's not a single mention of why they come after the killer. Did they see him shoot her? See him hide the money? Anything at all? Nothing. It's a large blank left unanswered and really left me flat. Thumbs way down.

witster18 Similar to "Winter's Bone", "Fargo", Freidkin's "Killer Joe" or Scott Cooper's "Out of the Furnace" and "Crazy Heart". "A Single Shot" fits right in the middle of that strong list of dark thrillers.Its finest characteristic is its thrill factor, which has trouble looming around every corner, put together with sharp direction, amiable camera work, and tense scoring.I'm sure this film is taking a hit from some picking apart certain aspects in the plot, but it's much less of "it couldn't happen", and more likely "people not liking the way it happens", and surely some will loath the beautifully symbolic ending, where the lead is literally suffocating under the weight of it all. Couldn't have ended any better, could barely be any better in general. Easily one of the best films I've seen this year. The only thing I did before writing this review, was leave this title on my latest B Movie Marathon list for later reference.There's a bit of sloppy speech from Jeffrey Wright in the ladder third that could have used some polishing, but that's honestly my only gripe with this great little sleeper.SOme might call this a "Slow-burner", but I found it to be intense and gripping from the opening minute till the final credit sequence. I was glued. Highly Recommend this one, but that recommendation comes with a bit of a user warning for gore, drug use, sexuality, and many blissfully scary moments.Bout time. Is it just me, or do you have to rent 30 films at the redbox to get one of these? bring back video stores! You'll like this if you liked:*see all films listed above. Hope it helps. It ain't Disney!77/100THe film is far from perfect, but Rockwell and the ever-present tension of the film, along with some nice supporting roles, make this solid.