Well-meaning but clunky, "Shooting Heroin" is based on the true(ish) story of a small town being ravaged by drugs that took on the problem themselves. Some well-meaning folks whose own lives have been touched by loss decide to form a task force -- read: posse -- to go after the dealers themselves. Of course, everything goes south.
Directed by Spencer T. Folmar, who also wrote the script, "Shooting Heroin" plays more like an R-rated soap opera than a feature film. The story spools out in a predictable three-act format -- challenge, conflict, resolution -- and the production values are minimal, aka no sets just low-rent locations. Basically, it looks like something shot dirt-cheap and in a hurry.
That's how a lot of actors and filmmakers start out their careers, though this film can also boast a pretty impressive roster of veteran performers as well. Start with Cathy Moriarty, an Oscar nominee for "Raging Bull," who has a smallish but effective part as an angry mother who loses her daughter to overdose.
Other names include Sherilyn Fenn ("Twin Peaks") as Hazel, another grieving mom; Nicholas Turturro ("NYPD Blue") as John, pastor to the local flock; and Garry Pastore ("The Irishman") as Jerry, seemingly the only police officer within a hundred miles of the town of Whispering Pines.
I also enjoyed Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs as Edward, a local man with a steely gaze and gravely voice who joins in the task force. And Alan Powell is solid as the lead, Adam, an ex-military man whose sister's death kicks off all the trouble. Powell has movie-star good looks and a smoldering screen presence, so hopefully he'll go on to better things.
As the story opens the town is roiled over a recent act in which an old man shot and killed his neighbor because he was dealing drugs. Something folks think he's a hero; others abhor the needless violence. Adam, who slings drinks at the local bar, seems on the fence until it's his own sister who succumbs.
Adam and Jerry have an interesting relationship. It turns out Jerry arrested Adam and sent him to prison awhile back, but rather than antagonists they've become close friends. Neither seems to have much of a life, so they'll go out drinking together. None of the local rednecks, many of them functional alcoholics, see any parallels between the opioids and their own consumption, of course.
Adam also has a toddler son, but he's one of those movie kids who only turns up occasionally as he's being passed around between adults. Maybe one day someone will make a movie where a parent wants to do all sorts of cool things worthy of making a film about, but they can't because their kids keep them constantly occupied.
Hazel gives talks to indifferent kids at the middle school about the death of her own son, so when Adam and Edward cook up the idea of a drug task force, she's eager to lend her voice. Officer Jerry knows it's a bad idea but gives in to the pressure to deputize them.
Of course, vigilante justice is often worse than no justice, so things quickly go awry. Edward sets up a checkpoint at the interstate exit leading into town and starts hassling motorists; Hazel's school lectures become more threatening; and Adam starts carrying a rifle and chasing after guys rolling around on ATVs in the forest.
We know what's coming, and it's just a matter of waiting around for the movie to get there.
None of the drug dealers or users are given any kind of depth or shading, so they're just obstacles in the plot rather than fleshed-out human beings. "Shooting Heroin" takes a tough, real-life subject and boils it down into familiar terms, where do-gooders want to get involved and end up being tainted by the poison they're fighting.
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHXHd4uonsw[/embed]