Synopsis
While investigating noises in his house one balmy Texas night in 1989, Richard Dane puts a bullet in the brain of a low-life burglar. Although he’s hailed as a small-town hero, Dane soon finds himself fearing for his family’s safety when Freddy’s ex-con father rolls into town, hell-bent on revenge.
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Cast
- Michael C. HallRichard Dane
- Don JohnsonJim Bob
- Sam ShepardRussell
- Vinessa ShawAnn Dane
- Nick DamiciRay Price
- Wyatt RussellFreddy
- Lanny FlahertyJack Crow
- Brianda AgramonteYoung Latina Girl on Tape
- Tim LajcikMex
- Brogan HallJordan Dane
Recommendations
- 90
Village Voice
While Hall and Shepard nail their parts, Don Johnson, still magnetic after all these years, steals the film as a sardonic private eye with a vintage cherry-red convertible. - 80
Variety
A superior piece of Texas pulp fiction that starts out like a house on fire, sags a bit in the middle, then rallies for an exuberantly bloody finish. - 80
Time Out London
Any film that teams up gruffer-than-thou icons Shepard and Johnson is bound to go heavy on the testosterone, but Mickle undercuts all this strident manliness with a rich vein of self-mocking wit and paternal angst. - 80
TheWrap
Cold in July never actually turns into the film you think it's going to, and even if that means there's a few unanswered questions ricocheting around your head as the credits roll, it also provides real, rich pleasures as it zigzags into the darkness. - 75
The Playlist
Cold In July doesn’t always work and it takes quite a long time to get adjusted to its coiling rhythm, but it’s far better than it has any right to be and perhaps, more significantly, is unusually absorbing and memorable. - 75
Entertainment Weekly
Johnson ties some of the film's looser ends together and makes you overlook the ones that stay untied. Between "Eastbound & Down," "Django Unchained", and now Cold in July, Johnson has a nice little streak going of turning seemingly disposable characters into indelible scene-stealing rascals. - 70
The Dissolve
Even as Cold In July’s overall arc approaches something of a dead-end, the individual scenes and performances are remarkable. - 67
The A.V. Club
As entertaining as it is to watch Cold In July drift, the film has to eventually pick a lane — and that’s where this otherwise accomplished suspense picture runs into the ditch.
