Movies about idiotic schemes don’t necessarily have to be subpar themselves. They can latch onto irony, satire or even hubris to create narrative depth. But when the idiocy of the characters’ plot reflects a larger flaw in the script, it doesn’t bode well for the movie’s reception. Richard Gray’s Sugar Mountain wants to be a movie about brotherly contention – specifically regarding money – but it gets bogged down in the faux drama of a hoax.
Miles (Drew Roy) and Liam (Shane Coffey) lose their chartered boat because of the former’s gambling habits and, with Miles’ girlfriend Lauren (Haley Webb), concoct a get-rich-quick scheme that calls for Miles to “disappear” after the two “fight” over Lauren. Liam will be suspected of murder; Miles will miraculously return then they’ll sell the story for six figures. Just don’t tell them that doesn’t qualify as a get-rich-quick scheme.
Screenwriter Abe Pogos’ story has holes like this throughout that expose narrative choices of convenience. Consquently, the script struggles to hold up when the bulk of its twists are merely revelations that make these characters less and less appealing and unsympathetic. It’s clear that Pogos and Gray were aiming for tragic irony. Lauren’s keen-eyed police chief father (Cary Elwes) is almost persuadable (i.e. blackmail-able), thanks to Lauren’s convenient knowledge of a past affair. Miles and Lauren decide that a suggested fling between herself and Liam will only up the ante when it comes time to sell this Alaskan drama. But Liam takes some convincing, mostly because he does have feelings for Lauren. When the two act on those feelings while Miles is “lost” and Lauren’s father finds out, hoax becomes reality. And, naturally, Miles returns a changed man with renewed morals and a promise to “make things right” but not by selling his story for a much-needed $300,000. Sugar Mountain is riddled with these kinds of soap opera antics.
It’s the hoax-come-to-life aspect of the movie that causes a lot of problems in terms of connecting with these characters. When the plan is set in place, none of their emotions are real – aside from Liam’s disdain for a brother who squandered their inheritance from their mother. Yet revelations like Jason Momoa showing up as Joe – a man to whom Miles owes gambling debts – and threatening Liam if he doesn’t receive payment begin to breathe life into the troubled brothers story. And midway through the movie, Liam and Lauren begin to worry that Miles may not actually be okay. And, it turns out, he never made it to his well-stocked cave. But keeping the hoax story going while the plot essentially falls into that same hoax is a narrative complexity that neither the script nor the actors are firmly able to wrangle. Coffey makes a concerted effort, but his portrayal of Liam as the responsible, put-upon brother doesn’t truly take on much more anger from beginning to end, despite the role requiring it.
John Garrett’s cinematography captures the natural beauty of the Alaskan setting, but even then Gray cuts out Miles’ existential experience on the mountain in favor of Liam-Lauren drama and arguments. A dubious plan hatched from self-imposed desperation surprisingly ends in an eye-rolling soap opera twist on top of a resurrected dead man twist, illustrating once and for all that Sugar Mountain ran out of ideas about as quickly as its characters.
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