We all have our limits. Time, money, romance, and even security; deficits or excesses test one’s sanity. Breaking News In Yuba County is a Dark Comedy/Drama that looks at the consequences for all of these.
No matter how high or how low you get, always remember. Your story matters. You are enough. You are strong.
The Plot
It’s Sue Buttons’ Birthday! And, no one knows or cares.
Sue, played by Allison Janney, picks up her Birthday cake, makes Dinner plans with her Husband and Sister, and goes to work a shift at the Call Center. Unfortunately, the name on her cake is misspelled, her Husband Karl and Sister Nancy have no clue what day it is, and her co-workers celebrate another person’s Birthday right in front of her face.
However, Karl, played by Matthew Modine, is too busy planning his next tryst with his mistress and laundering money for low level criminals to remember his wife’s special day. And, News Reporter Nancy, played by Mila Kunis, worries too much about her next story and her financial situation to remember her sister’s special day.
Sue is as forgotten and overlooked as she feels.
About to confront Karl at work and demand he celebrate her Birthday, Sue sees Karl leaving the bank with a bouquet of flowers. Intrigued, Sue follows Karl to a seedy motel, where her world bursts.
She walks in on Karl, mid-act, and stares him dead in the eye. Karl’s heart stops. He collapses and dies. The mistress screams uncontrollably and Sue slaps her, sending her away. Karl’s dead body lies buck naked and face down on the motel floor, with $3 Million stuffed in a bag feet away.
Sue zones out watching local Talk Show Host Gloria Michaels, played by Juliette Lewis, sensationalizing a missing local child “I’m Gloria Michaels, and I’m on your side.”
The Good – Breaking News In Yuba County
Director of ‘Breaking News’, Tate Taylor, does a great job taking us into Sue’s head space. Sue has been so ignored and so overlooked for so long, she’s already a woman near the edge.
The forgotten Birthday takes her to the edge, and walking in on Karl takes her over the edge. Sue breaks like Michael Douglas in Falling Down. Her Ego reduced to zero. Her Id goes into overdrive.
An All Star cast populates the intricate and fast moving story in this small, Southern town. Jimmi Simpson plays Karl’s ne’er do well brother, Petey. Ellen Barkin and Wanda Sykes work with Petey at a furniture store. Awkwafina and Clifton Collins, Jr chase down the money Karl stole as low level enforcers.
Regina Hall uses her Detective skills when Sue reports Karl as missing. Orange Is The New Black’s Samira Wiley rounds out the cast as Petey’s very pregnant and concerned wife, Jonelle.
The Bad
Breaking News In Yuba County sacrifices believability and realism in favor of Sue’s point of view and the flow of the storytelling. Since the film sees Sue’s distorted world view, this doesn’t ruin the story. It does, however, become increasingly fantastical the deeper we get.
Sue buries Karl and the $3 Million in the motel’s playground sand box, with nobody and no cameras seeing the act.
Nancy seems more interested in getting an exclusive interview with her Sister than she is with Sue’s emotional state or Karl being a missing person. Sketchy looking local criminals enter a bank in broad daylight and assault an employee in front of tons of witnesses, and there’s no commotion, and police don’t show up.
Many more logical inconsistencies dot the storytelling of the movie. If ‘Breaking News’ had been told in a more stylized way, like a Guy Ritchie film, they would be easy to overlook. Instead, the storytelling is somewhere in between realistic and stylized, and thus gets slightly lost.
The Review – Breaking News In Yuba County
Breaking News In Yuba County tells a fresh, interesting story; with surprisingly three dimensional characters and an interesting look at the effect TV News can have on the public and law enforcement.
If all of these factors were finely tuned, we might have had a hit film on our hands. Instead, we have a dark comedy that floats aimlessly and un-seen through it’s 96 minute run time, just like it’s main character, floats aimlessly and un-seen through life.
Far from bad, but sadly, far from great. Lots of interesting ideas and characters, and a story that moves well, but still falls short in the end. Skip it.
Rated-R. Comedy, Crime, Drama. #YubaCountyMovie
Additional Information
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7737640
Other Comedy Reviews by #DragonMovieGuy
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Allison Janney and Mila Kunis lead an All Star cast in a Dark Comedy. Breaking News In Yuba County looks at celebrity, crime, and a missing philandering husband.