John (Jeff Goldblum) likes his chardonnay but picks the wrong day to be meticulous about scratched bottle labels when an armed robber holds up his favorite deli and a store clerk, Auggie Rose (Kim Coates), gets shot in the gut after stepping out of the store’s storage area with a replacement bottle. It’s a tragic enough moment to thrust an upstanding insurance salesman like John into an existential crisis. John, guilt-ridden by Auggie’s non-place in the world, tries desperately to locate the dead man’s next of kin, but all he finds is a dreamy Celestia: Lucy (Anne Heche). John disses his girlfriend, moves into Auggie’s old abode, feeds the next-door neighbor’s plants and shacks up with Auggie’s pen-pal honey, after which it seems only inevitable that he should take a job at a deli and continue Auggie’s layman legacy. Timothy Olyphant plays his typical bad-boy self as an ex-con trying to convince Auggie/John to engage in a bank heist, and though Auggie Rose has the makings of a TV movie, director Matthew Tabak engages noir idiom to quaint effect. Identities shift and lives are reevaluated when John decides to go slumming, and though his transformation into a common man may not be very likely, Goldblum’s performance is as convincing as the ecstasy-stoked glaze on the face of Heche’s Midwest gal.
Since 2001, we've brought you uncompromising, candid takes on the world of film, music, television, video games, theater, and more. Independently owned and operated publications like Slant have been hit hard in recent years, but we’re committed to keeping our content free and accessible—meaning no paywalls or fees.
If you like what we do, please consider subscribing to our Patreon or making a donation.
