Synopsis
A boozy lowlife tries to bury the truth about his crazy stepson's suspicious death, but a nosy newspaper columnist and the young man's mother complicate matters.
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Cast
- Philip Seymour HoffmanMickey Scarpato
- Richard JenkinsRichard Shelburn
- Christina HendricksJeannie Scarpato
- John TurturroArthur 'Bird' Capezio
- Eddie MarsanSmilin' Jack Moran
- Caleb Landry JonesLeon Scarpato
- Domenick LombardozziSal
- Eddie McGeePetey
- Lenny VenitoLittle Eddie
- Peter GeretyMcKenna
Recommendations
- 88
New York Post
As for Hoffman, the shambling Everyman naturalism he shows here gives God’s Pocket an added elegiac layer that makes its bitter ironies that much more painful. - 58
IndieWire
The numerous belly laughs are undermined by jarring flashes of darkness that never organically sync with the plot. - 50
The Hollywood Reporter
The film only intermittently displays the snap, precision and stylistic smarts a mixed-tone project like this requires; a half-good effort is not enough where buoyancy and a sly-to-mean spiritedness are required at all times. - 50
Entertainment Weekly
In one of his final roles, Philip Seymour Hoffman stars as a man whose no-good stepson is killed on a construction job, while John Turturro, Richard Jenkins, and Christina Hendricks round out a formidable cast that isn’t given much to work with. - 42
The Playlist
The film is almost unrepentantly nasty towards its characters. - 40
Village Voice
The story... could have worked well as a pitch-black comedy, but first-time director John Slattery (Mad Men's Roger Sterling) takes the material so seriously that the mood never changes much after leaving the funeral home. - 38
Slant Magazine
Throughout, it becomes difficult to know whether we're meant to empathize with these characters or laugh at them. - 30
Variety
John Slattery makes a wobbly transition into feature filmmaking with this drab and uninvolving dark comedy.
