‘Maggie Moore(s)’ Review: Jon Hamm and Tina Fey Will Make You Wish This Dark Crime Comedy Were a Rom-Com
variety.comMichael Nordine author If his post-“Mad Men” career has taught us anything, it’s that Jon Hamm is a natural comic actor who happens to be great in dramatic roles rather than the other way around.
At the risk of downplaying his exemplary work as Don Draper, the 52-year-old has seemed most in his element in the likes of “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt,” “Curb Your Enthusiasm” and especially last year’s criminally underseen “Confess, Fletch.” “Maggie Moore(s)” finds him somewhere in the middle of the comedy/drama spectrum as a small-town police chief investigating the murders of two women with the same name — an intriguing premise to be sure, but one that Hamm’s “Mad Men” co-star John Slattery, in his sophomore directorial effort, struggles to bring to a satisfying conclusion.
Part of the problem is that it isn’t actually a mystery. Beginning with a title card informing us that “some of this actually happened,” the film wastes little time telling us who’s responsible for at least one of the deceased Maggie Moores.
That would be her husband Jay (Micah Stock), who hires a deaf heavy he should have known not to trust (Happy Anderson) to merely scare her after she wises up to his shady business dealings and declares her intention to leave him.
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