Film Review: Suburbicon

It’s the summer of '59 in Suburbicon, an idealistic mix of all American suburbs mashed into one - where families from everywhere from New Jersey to Mississippi can live the American Dream, providing of course that they fit the criteria, i.e. that they are white.  When the Mayers (an African-American family) move in, the fixed smiles begin to slide and a downwards spiral of events begins to unfold.  While the inter-racial tensions are simmering next door, the Lodge family are experiencing their own unwinding.  An unexpected late-night break in leads to tragic consequences, Gardner Lodge (Matt Damon), his young son Nicki (Noah Jupe) and his sister-in-law Maggie (Julianne Moore) have to pick up the pieces of their lives in the face of a dreadful bereavement. But things are not necessarily what they seem. Why do Lodge and Aunt Maggie fail to identify the thugs who staged the break in, and why is there a slimy insurance agent snooping around the house asking awkward questions? Why does Nicki Lodge find his father spanking his Aunt in the basement and why is Aunt Maggie poisoning people’s drinks?

Written by the Coen Brothers back in the 90’s and pulled from some dusty forgotten vault by George Clooney to direct, you may be forgiven for thinking that this project is a gem waiting to be discovered. But as the hapless plot moves from one point to another with very little empathy or explanation, the film quickly unwinds. The story about an insurance scam gone wrong rings bells (was this once some precursory Fargo?). But there seems to be something missing somewhere – perhaps the reason why the Coen brothers wrote and then shelved the script years ago? There are moments of black humour – and some laugh out loud incidents - but they appear to be disjointed and a bit all over the place. The Coen charm is noticeably absent and Clooney seems to be having trouble replacing it.

Damon pulls out an excellent yet psychotic performance as the repressed and darkly funny Gardner Lodge, but I didn’t really feel invested in him as a character. Julianne Moore plays both Aunt Maggie and her twin sister Rose Lodge – the first with the sickly sweetness, and the second with a refreshing sense of sardonic endearing bitterness and distaste. It’s a shame Rose gets bumped off early in the story as she is the one I prefer. Oscar Isaac’s turn as Bud Cooper the insurance man is perhaps a highlight, but Noah Jupe’s performance as Nicky Lodge is one of the best. We see the story from Nicky’s eyes, which may be the reason why he ends up as my favourite character. And in the face of what the poor kid has to go through, I end up staunchly admiring him. The same goes for poor Uncle Mitch who pops up at random points.

If the storyline was a simple comedy scam plot it wouldn’t be so bad, but placed side by side with the extremely serious and distressing treatment of the Mayers by the rest of the neighbourhood, the story starts to make less sense. I can maybe understand the principle of adding in heavily topical racial undertones, showing the darker side of the seemingly perfect 1950s American society, but the two stories running side by side never seem to meet up in any way, save in the random friendship between the Mayers’ son Andy and Nicky Lodge. The screen time given to this part of the plot is hugely lacking. There is also no real sense of consequence for what happens to the Mayers, which I find difficult to stomach, while the Lodge’s drive themselves towards their own destruction through sheer haplessness.

It was ok. Which is the best I can give it. Probably two stars out of five – three if I’m feeling generous.