Quirky and brutal crime comedy is afoot in Jeremy LaLonde’s latest screening out of Toronto, Daniel’s Gotta Die, penned by Matthew Dressel and starring Joel David Moore in the lead. The cast includes Iggy Pop, Jason Jones, Carly Chaikin and Mary Lynn Rajskub, along with Chantel Riley and Varun Saranga, and is bookended by late actor and comedian Bob Saget.
Daniel (Moore) is a devoted husband who loves his wife Emily (Riley), but especially loves his family more than anything. He’s also the most clueless when it comes to the proclivities and penchants of his sister Jessica (Chaikin) and twin sibs Vic (Jones) and Mia (Rajskub), so upon the deathbed of his billionaire father Edward (Pop), Daniel is granted the bulk conditional control of his father sizable inheritance, which is in the millions.
Much to the chagrin of his beleagured relatives, Daniel decides to abide by the inheritance conditions and invites everyone to a family retreat at a luxurious remote island get away for everyone to be closer to one another. Little does Daniel know that his siblings have it out for him in order to get control of the inheritance, while the extent of the family bitterment is also felt by Edward’s longtime proprieter, Lawrence (Saget), who has his own plans after discovering all he was left with was a grandfather clock.
LaLonde’s latest is an interesting crime caper delight peppered with colorful characters to keep the pace going, revealing each character’s personalities and motivations and incumbent layers to the stakes Daniel has yet to realize he will face. The depth of that impasse doesn’t limit itself to just bad timing and slapstick either, as there is a bodycount that starts midway into the film, and this is after two failed attempts by different duos to kill Daniel – one with a little help from the outside.
Par for the course with almost any murder caper, there will be blood and a little fire to top the Schadenfreude at the end. Thus, causality is framed handsomely with endearing performances by Moore and Pop, as well as by Saget in this newest and posthumous film role. Everyone gets their due justice in Daniel’s Gotta Die, a comedy that rightly delivers and won’t leave you feeling empty handed by the end credits.
