God's Pocket

God’s Pocket, the directorial début of Mad Men’s John Slattery, is an adaptation of Pete Dexter’s 1983 novel about the residents of the titular, blue-collar neighborhood in South Philadelphia. The people of this moribund community seem to live in an isolated bubble of society that hasn’t changed much in the past several decades. Attitudes about race, class, sex, work, and loyalty to one’s place of origin feel stuck in the late 1950s. This is the kind of gritty, boozy, urban story that often translates well to independent film. The genre’s profusion of damaged characters provides actors with a lot to sink their teeth into. Unfortunately, this particular profusion comes up a bit short. Not that there aren’t some good roles for the picture’s A-list cast to play, but the film is too unfocused to develop many of them into anything beyond just ideas of people. Some characters, like those played by Philip Seymour Hoffman, John Turturro, Peter Gerety, and Eddie Marsan, feel sufficiently “lived in” to the point where we can almost write our own backstory for them. Others are one-dimensional and never establish themselves beyond the function they serve to the story, despite their ample screen time. Richard Jenkins’s character, for example, is a cynical newspaper columnist who essentially narrates the movie and is constantly explaining to the audience who he is and what he’s about, yet he never comes into focus as an authentic individual. Likewise, Christina Hendricks ends up playing various emotional states rather than an actual person.

The script’s muddled qualities are reflected in Slattery’s direction, which seems rather unsure of itself in terms of tone. God’s Pocket is a dark comedy that could have benefited from less darkness and more comedy. But when the humor does come, it’s unexpected, inventive, and powerful. Much like Lee Daniels’ The Paperboy (2012), another adaptation of a Dexter novel, the film’s best parts are the violent or profane actions that come out of nowhere. These few shockingly funny and surprisingly demonstrative moments go a long way towards redeeming this picture. God’s Pocket lacks the craziness of The Paperboy, but it succeeds in exploring a little-known microcosm of society with some very strong actors.