James Franco seems to be everywhere these days, from starring as George in the recent Broadway adaptation Of Mice and Men to signing on to play The Room director Tommy Wiseau in the upcoming comedy The Disaster Artist. A film based on his collection of short stories, Palo Alto, came out in limited release this weekend, and he keeps doing weird antics on social media, in case all of the exposure he was already getting was not enough. Currently, he has close to a dozen films in post-production, but the next time you can catch him on the big screen is in Good People, a thriller from Danish director Henrik Ruben Genz.
Franco stars as Tom Reed in the film. After moving into his wife’s London house – her name is Anna and Kate Hudson has the role – Tom falls into debt. However, the couple finds that the tenant beneath them has died suddenly and left behind a bag filled with more than 220,000 pounds (around $350,000 U.S.). While the couple agrees to take the money and keep it a secret, they soon become entangled with a thief played by The Intouchables‘ Omar Sy.
Although elements from the trailer look generic, Sy and Tom Wilkinson (who also co-stars) could pepper up what might just be a routine thriller. However, I do not think the film has a lot of big surprises that its trailer does not already spoil. Plus, Franco is usually better in roles where he is playing eccentric characters, and he tends to be flat as the straight man (his performance in Rise of the Planet of the Apes did not have the same energy as Spring Breakers, for instance).
On the bright side, the film’s scribe, Kelly Masterson, wrote Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead, a smart, twisty thriller from 2007 that also had likeable characters (or, ahem, good people) doing unfortunate things. Plus, the MPAA rating promises “bloody violence,” so do not expect the film to be a bland time at the movies.
Good People should hit theatres later this year, although there is no current release date. We’ll keep you posted when we hear more.
