Small Crimes

Joe Denton, a former police officer, returns to his hometown after serving six years in prison for the attempted murder of a district attorney. He wants to start over, but his parents are ashamed of him, his wife has left with their children, and the community does not welcome him back. His past catches up quickly: a corrupt former colleague, the district attorney he attacked and a local crime boss all try to use him for their own purposes, leaving Joe caught between competing interests.

Small Crimes was directed by E.L. Katz, who wrote the screenplay with Macon Blair. It followed Katz's debut Cheap Thrills and came before Azrael. Nikolaj Coster-Waldau plays Joe Denton, with Robert Forster and Jacki Weaver as his parents, Molly Parker as Charlotte Boyd, Gary Cole as Lieutenant Pleasant and Macon Blair as Scotty. The production was a Canadian-American one, made by Backup Media, Rooks Nest Entertainment, Memento Films International and Rumble Films, with David Lancaster and Stephanie Wilcox producing. It runs 95 minutes and mixes crime, drama, thriller and comedy elements.

The film drew modest audience scores: on IMDb it holds 5.8 out of 10 from about 9,400 votes, while on TMDB it has 5.4 out of 10 from roughly 300 votes. A critics' rating of 5.7 out of 10 from 17 reviews sits close to those audience figures, suggesting a mixed but not sharply divided response across the board.