Don McKay (film)

Don McKay
Directed by	Jake Goldberger
Produced by	Jim Young
Written by	Jake Goldberger
Starring	Thomas Haden Church Elisabeth Shue Melissa Leo James Rebhorn Keith David M. Emmet Walsh
Music by	Steven Bramson
Cinematography	Phil Parmet
Editing by	Andrew Dickler
Studio	Animus Films
Distributed by	Image Entertainment
Release date(s)	April 24, 2009 (2009-04-24) (Tribeca) April 2, 2010 (2010-04-02) (United States)
Running time	87 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

Don McKay is a 2009 independent drama thriller film written and directed by Jake Goldberger and starring Thomas Haden Church and Elisabeth Shue. It premiered at the 8th Annual Tribeca Film Festival in April 2009^[1] and received a limited release on April 2, 2010.

Plot

Don McKay (Thomas Haden Church) is a lonely high school janitor who one day receives a letter from his high school sweetheart, Sonny (Elizabeth Shue). In it, she asks him to come visit her back in their home town, because she is dying of an unnamed disease. At first he is reluctant because he had been a suspect in a murder case there years before, but Don decides to go. He arrives and gets a ride to Sonny's house by an eccentric cab driver named Samuel (M. Emmet Walsh).

Don meets Sonny, as well as her strange caregiver Marie (Melissa Leo). Marie's coldness towards Don makes it clear that she doesn't approve of his presence. Don spends the night, and he and Sonny make love. The next morning, Sonny's Doctor, Lance Pryce (James Rebhorn) visits. While Marie and Sonny are out, Pryce attacks Don, and after a struggle, Don kills the man, and hides the body in a bed of leaves behind the garden. However, Don had just suffered an allergic reaction to a bee sting, and blacks out shortly after hiding the body. He awakens in the hospital, where Sonny proposes marriage and claims that she had recently spoken to Pryce.

Don goes to see his old friend Otis (Keith David), and tells him what happened. Otis agrees to help Don get rid of the body that night, but when he arrives it has vanished. Sonny rushes out, thinking the men are burglars, and Otis runs off. After an argument, Don returns home for a few days, eventually getting another letter from Sonny asking him to come back to her. He does.

Samuel picks Don up again, but they are intercepted and kidnapped by a man named Mel (Pruitt Taylor Vince). Mel takes Don to a hotel room, where it's revealed that both Mel and Marie were planning all along to kill Don and take an inheritance Don would receive upon Don's marriage. Don tries to reason with the two stating that there is no inheritance, and that he has no idea what they are talking about. Marie refuses to believe him and tells him to go along with the plan, or they will go to the police about the death of Pryce. With Samuel in Mel's trunk, the four drive back to Sonny's house, and demand that Don go in wearing a wire, threatening to go to the police if he doesn't cooperate with their plan.

Upon arriving at the house, Don hastily proposes to Sonny, stating that he was confused before, but realizes now that he loves her. Sonny quickly peels away Don's story, realizes he is wearing a recording device, and calls his bluff. The doorbell rings; It's Marie and Mel, who enter the house. After a long confrontation, Sonny hits Marie over the head with a frozen ham, and kills her. Sonny then grabs the phone and calls 911 for help, stating that a man pretending to be a private detective just killed someone in her house.

She tells Don to kill Mel, and Don refuses. She grabs an ax and again asks him to kill Mel, but he refuses. Sonny then asks Mel to kill Don, and a struggle over the ax ensues between the men. Sonny kills Mel with the same frozen ham she killed Marie with, and tries to concoct a story to cover all of it. She tells Don that she'd been planning all along to take a large inheritance from Pryce, not Don, that he had received from a relative. It's also revealed that Pryce was her husband, and that the two were going to kill him together, but Pryce jumped the gun on the scam. Don then tells her that he knows that she wasn't actually Sonny, as he had killed his girlfriend before leaving town years ago, but gotten away with it.

The police arrive and Sonny lets them into the house. They find the bodies of Marie and Mel, and immediately arrest Don. Sonny is taken away in a police car, and the police start to take Don away. The sound of screaming starts to erupt from Mel's trunk. The police find Samuel and question Don about Samuel's involvement. Don asks Samuel to explain his knowledge of the situation to the police. In the ensuing investigation, Samuel backs up Don's story, and it seems that he will be okay. The detective in charge asks him why he would go through all of it if he knew that it wasn't Sonny, and Don answers that he was "lonely".

Don receives a ride to the bus station from Samuel, who tells him to contact him if he ever needs anything. Don takes Samuel's phone number and boards the bus back home. At home, Don is seen sitting in a chair, a bee lands on his cheek and the movie ends, leaving Don's fate unknown.

Cast

• Thomas Haden Church as Don McKay^[2]
• Elisabeth Shue as Sonny^[2]
• James Rebhorn as Dr. Lance Pryce^[2]
• Melissa Leo as Marie^[2]
• M. Emmet Walsh as Samuel^[2]
• Keith David as Otis Kent^[2]
• Pruitt Taylor Vince as Mel
• Robert Wahlberg as Alfred

Production

Filming took place north of Boston in Massachusetts.^[2]

References

1. ^ "Preview of the 8th Annual Tribeca Film Festival 5". ComingSoon.net. CraveOnline. April 20, 2009. http://www.comingsoon.net/news/tribecanews.php?id=54415. Retrieved March 22, 2010. 
2. ^ ^{a b c d e f g} Dave McNary (2008-08-19). "Church, Shue, Leo to star in 'McKay'". Variety. http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117990799.html?categoryid=13&cs=1. Retrieved 2008-10-13. 

External links

• Official website
• Don McKay at AllRovi
• Don McKay at Box Office Mojo
• Don McKay at the Internet Movie Database
• Don McKay at Rotten Tomatoes