Reptile

Benicio Del Toro

Grant Singer's Reptile, currently streaming on Netflix, is an unsuccessful mystery thriller, but, at least, it does not feel like it was designed by an algorithm. The film is a police procedural centered on a murder in Westchester County. By film's end, we are not surprised that institutional corruption is as endemic in the tony New York suburbs as it is in our urban centers. Singer tries to ratchet up the tension or something with numerous artsy mirror shots to little visual or thematic impact.

Reptile is distended rather than taut. The locales are appropriate, but there is no regional flavor. The flick is a rote crime film with an above average cast. Benicio Del Toro, in the lead role, is always watchable and he and his onscreen missus (Alicia Silverstone) have a more interesting rapport than usual in such genre exercise. Michael Pitt, climbing out of movieland purgatory, Sky Ferreira, and Dominick Lombardozzi all have interesting moments. Eric Bogosian and Justin Timberlake do not. Timberlake is egregiously miscast as a rich, cuckolded Mama's boy. I at least believed the Mama's boy part and JT does get to show off his smooth golf swing, but why hire a performer like him and ask him to tamp down his charisma.