Sweet Virginia – Review

Cold, cloudy mountains are the backdrop as the film opens in a small Alaskan town and a car driving through the night. It turns left into a parking space and the driver goes around the corner to knock on a closed pub door. Eventually he is let in.

This is Tom Barrett, who joins Mitchell McCabe (Tucker) and Lou Hopkins inside for Texas Hold ‘Em. Tom quickly calls home and talks to his wife Bernadette (DeWitt), then goes back to the game. Cards are played and booze is drunk, however Mitchell is focused on making more real money and moving with the times.

Then, in walks a stranger named Elwood (Abbott), who ignores the men that tell him they are closed. He orders the Early Bird Special and a water. Mitchell tells him to go. Elwood somehow already knows Mitchell’s name. Things start to get weird. Who is this stranger…?

After some tense criminal happenings, the film introduces Sam Rossi (Bernthal), a former Virginian bull rider and rodeo extraordinaire. Nowadays he moves slower due to past injury, and hovers around a local Alaskan motel for work and life, staying in one of the rooms. What will happen though when he bumps into a stranger named Elwood who is staying at the property for a few days?

Sweet Virginia is a dark crime tale about murder and mayhem, and is a bit of a slow burn. It may not bring too many new story aspects, but it does what it sets out to do presenting a moody and brooding tale of tension. It does drop a few decent plot beats, and has a short runtime. Bernthal plays Sam well with subtle toughness under his wounded and worn body, while Abbott is a solid soulless stranger. The supporting girls Poots and DeWitt are good like always.