Some movies in the last few years have tried to wring drama out of a school shooting or other mass murder. Brady Corbet’s Vox Lux, from 2018, was about that, as was Megan Park’s Fallout and Fran Kranz’s Mass, both in 2021. Lynne Ramsey’s great We Need to Talk About Kevin, from 2011, goes in the sub-genre too, although it was set mostly before the murders, as opposed to after. It’s a heavy subject, but one that lends itself to dramatic moments and showcases for actors.
Eric LaRue, which debuted two years ago at the Tribeca Film Festival and is finally hitting theaters now, is similar to those movies, but it’s one of the better ones. The directorial debut of actor Michael Shannon, it’s a fine vehicle for Judy Greer, as the mother of a teenager (the titular Eric) in prison for shooting three classmates.
The action begins around a year after the murders, and Janice (Greer) is filled with questions, and having trouble leaving her house, whether it means visiting her son in prison or facing the community’s judgmental eyes. She’s also at odds with her husband Ron (Alexander Skarsgård), who’s reacted to the tragedy by embracing new-found religiosity.
There are two churches in town, which are eager to host a meeting between Janice and the mothers of the boys her son killed (such a meeting, in its entirety, was the subject of Mass). The more hardline conservative church (led by pastor Tracy Letts) is also trying to get Ron to “take charge” and be more manly, while a co-worker (Alison Pill) is not-so-subtly attempting to seduce him either into the church, or an affair, or possibly both.
Eric LaRue got its start as a play by Brett Neveu that was written in 2002, in the wake of 1999’s Columbine massacre; 2002 was also the year of Michael Moore’s noxious documentary Bowling For Columbine. The theater version was first staged at the Shannon-founded Red Orchid Theater in Chicago, and the film also functions as a reunion of the actor’s old friends, including Neveu, the playwright, who wrote the screenplay.
Judy Greer, who’s spent much of her career playing best-friend roles in romantic comedies, always excels when she gets to do something different, as her crazy mistress character on Arrested Development demonstrated. Here, she nails a tricky dramatic role. As for Alexander Skarsgard, I’m fascinated by how he got his start playing such roles as the sexy vampire on True Blood, while as he’s aged, his characters have become nerdier and dorkier. Alison Pill steals a couple of scenes as the creepy co-worker, while many of the smaller roles are played by more obscure actors better known from the theater.
