Film Review – Downtown Owl

“Downtown Owl” is based on a 2008 novel by Chuck Klosterman, who took 275 pages to realize his vision for conflict and quirk involving the residents of a tiny midwestern town. Screenwriter Hamish Linklater (who co-directs with Lily Rabe) only has 90 minutes of screen time to cover the complications of these relationships and the intensity of a few secrets. It’s not enough elbow room, leaving the feature an increasingly messy understanding of people and their problems. The endeavor tries to have some fun with eccentricity and local color, and “Downtown Owl” is at its most appealing when taking in the oddballs of the area, watching how the main character deals with her newfound position as a curiosity. It’s the rest of the picture that slowly falls apart, with Linklater struggling to manage personalities and motivations, gradually trading a story for psychological splatter that’s likely more interesting to the filmmakers than the audience. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com