Produced by Chad Simpson,
Dennis Masel, Chadd Harbold
Written and Directed by Colin West
Starring Jim Gaffigan, Rhea Seehorn,
Katelyn Nacon, Gabriel Rush,
Elisabeth Henry, Amy Hargreaves,
Roger Hendricks Simon, West Duchovny,
Michael Ian Black, Tony Shalhoub
Unfortunately, it’s impossible to cohesively talk about Linoleum without being all over the place. While the end of the film makes it very clear what the story is about, it’s a long road to get there and it’s completely disjointed along the way.
That’s the sad part of gimmick movies. The reveal better be Earth shattering otherwise everyone is going to be disappointed.
This is the latter.
I know someone who still insists Gabriel Byrne was Keyser Soze in The Usual Suspects. He’s an idiot, but The Usual Suspects is a good example of a gimmick movie.
Can we have Rhea Seehorn star in everything please? She’s so talented. Every word out of her mouth is authentic, pregnant with emotion and believable. She’s magical in Better Call Saul and brings her voluminous power to a limited and underwritten role in Linoleum.
Unfortunately in Linoleum, she’s not on the screen enough to bring cohesiveness to the story splatter.
Jim Gaffigan can act, period. He plays two different roles in Linoleum.
We see him in one role as a mad, but loveable professor type (Cameron), bringing science to the masses in a children’s program. In the other, as Kent, he is a cleaner, more buttoned up, more successful version of a similar character.
Kent, has a cruel personality streak that he visits on his son regularly.
Gabriel Rush plays Marc, Kent’s son. Rush is incredibly prolific. Having 33 acting credits by the age of 25 is pretty impressive. Rush is heartfelt and sincere as the newcomer to the neighborhood and he befriends Cameron’s daughter, Nora. Nora is played ably and effectively by Walking Dead alumnus Katelyn Nacon, despite a role that under emphasizes her talents.
This brings us to the problem with Linoleum. The trailer makes it look like a comedy, but it isn’t.
The film touches on some really heavy topics, but doesn’t dive into any of them because the actual topic of the film isn’t really explained until the end. The writing is weak, gimmicky and ultimately unsatisfying. The cast out-sings the song by a long way and they perform admirably despite the designed confusion from writer director Colin West.
Linoleum isn’t a bad film, but ultimately isn’t a good one.
2.5 out of 5 stars
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