The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Mourning job
Three women take over their husbands’ criminal endeavor in entertaining if uneven ‘Widows’
It helps to know that “Widows” — about a group of women who take on a criminal job planned by their late husbands — is based on a TV series to understand it.
That bit of knowledge won’t help you understand the movie’s fairly convoluted story, mind you, but instead how this film came to take the shape it has.
Adapted for the screen by “Gone Girl” and “Sharp Objects” author Gillian Flynn, “Widows” is based on the mid-1980s British series of the same name, written by Lynda La Plante. At least a couple of its interconnected storylines feel as though they’d been designed for episodic television, playing as half-baked ideas on the big screen.
Because of this, “Widows” can be frustrating.
On the other hand, it boasts a terrific cast — led by Viola Davis and featuring, among others, Michelle Rodriguez, Colin Farrell, Daniel Kaluuya, Robert Duvall, Jackie Weaver and, last but not least, Liam Neeson.
Also, it is directed nicely by Steve McQueen, whose 2013 historical drama “12 Years a Slave” won the Academy Award for best picture.
And Flynn’s script, while the film’s biggest problem, nonetheless has some nice bits of dialogue and yields several memorable moments and sequences, which help the good outweigh the bad in this unusual heist film.
Consider, for instance how “Widows” begins — with Harry (Neeson) and Veronica Rawlins in bed, kissing intimately. That apparent wedded bliss soon is interrupted — for us, not them — with loud-and-intense shots of a robbery going wrong for Harry and his crew in the very near future. McQueen bounces us back and forth between tranquil and violent with great effect.
We learn Harry’s crew dies in a fiery vehicle, with the money they’d stolen apparently being burnt to a crisp, as well. Problem: That money — $2 million — belonged to powerful criminal-turned-aspiring Chicago alderman Jamal Manning (Brian Tyree Henry of FX’s “Atlanta”), and he wants it back. He makes that clear in a visit to Veronica’s home, as does his brother and lead henchman, Jatemme (Kaluuya), on more than one occasion.
When Veronica finds a notebook kept by the meticulous Harry about the crew’s next job — a job that would net $5 million — she goes about recruiting her fellow widows: Rodriguez’s Linda, Elizabeth Debicki’s Alice and Carrie Coon’s Amanda, the latter not showing for a meetup. Veronica’s pitch: They do their husbands’ job, which would net them $5 million, leaving $3 million to split after paying back Jamal. With no better options, the pair of women accept and are assigned tasks by Veronica, not that either has the knowhow to do what is required.
The other major player in this story is Farrell’s Jack Mulligan, who is trying to follow in the footsteps of his father, Tom (Duvall), by being elected alderman for the 18th Ward of Chicago. In part because Jack knew Harry and is facing Jamal in the election, he will become entangled in this mess.
There are so many characters involved with this overly complicated story — Alice’s mother (Weaver) and Belle (Cynthia Erivo), a woman busting her hump at multiple jobs to make enough money to support her young daughter and herself, are two others — that the name “Widows” feels a bit misleading. Yes, Veronica, Linda and Alice are the central focus of the story, but we don’t spend all that much time with them, Flynn focusing more than she needs to on Jack’s storyline, for one.
That does, however, allow for a couple of nice scenes shared by Farrell and Duvall, the latter chewing the scenery in the more dramatic of the two but with wonderful results. This father-andson dynamic is one of the most fascinating aspects of “Widows.”
Also fascinating — or perhaps terrifying — is the performance of Kaluuya, the “Get Out” star convincingly imbuing Jatemme with fear-worthy qualities. A scene in which he, um, aggressively interrogates a wheelchair-dependent associate of Harry’s may stick with you for a bit.
Although she’s given more powerful performances — including Oscar-nominated turns in 2011’s “The Help” and 2016’s “Fences,” the second of which earning her the prize — Davis is compelling as Veronica. The character is tough, determined and appropriately scared to death, all at once.
Ultimately, “Widows” tries to be too many things all at once — a heist flick, a film about strong women, a story about the tension between a son and his largerthan-life (and racist) father and a showcase of Chicago and its neighborhoods. (Chicago resident Flynn says in the production notes that McQueen’s vision for setting and shooting the film in various parts of the Windy City helped her quickly decide to come on board.)
Bigger cinematic sins have been committed by other films, of course, and “Widows” is still worth seeing.
Even as you wonder if the show was better.