Today’s quick review: Making a Killing. While Lloyd Mickey (Christopher Lloyd) was in jail, Arthur Herring (Mike Starr) and his brother Vincent (Jude Moran) held onto his collection of rare coins to keep them safe. But when Lloyd is released two years early, Arthur tries to sell the coins rather than give them back. When their conflict results in a murder, the state sends Orlando Hudson (Michael Jai White), a canny detective, to investigate.
Making a Killing is a crime drama about a murder in a quiet New Mexico town. Arthur and Vincent’s plan to cash in on Lloyd’s fortune and skip town goes to pieces when Lloyd shows up demanding his coins. Making a Killing tries to carve out a niche for itself as a tale of murder, betrayal, and intrigue. However, its plot hooks are weak and its delivery is flat, leaving it outclassed by a number of other movies.
Making a Killing has a hard time holding the audience’s attention. The slow pacing and indirect storytelling would work well with a more captivating mystery, but Making a Killing does not have the substance to back them up. The drama surrounding Lloyd is half-baked, the coins are not as interesting as the movie thinks, and even the plot twists later on are not worth the wait. The problem is compounded by flat acting and middling characters.
Give Making a Killing a shot only if you are a fan of the budget side of the crime genre. The movie has the ingredients of a tidy small-town mystery, but it does not deliver on that promise. Bits and pieces of an intriguing plot and the charisma of Michael Jai White are enough to make it watchable, but most viewers would be better off with one of the other movies in the genre.
For a more creative movie about a murder in a small town, try Cut Bank or Fargo. For a criminal plot set in a small town with more intriguing twists, try Shimmer Lake. For a more violent movie with a similar premise, try The Hollow Point.
[4.9 out of 10 on IMDB](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6116568/). I give it a 5.0 for flawed execution of a mediocre premise.