Eric LaRue Review: Michael Shannon's First Time as Director Offers a Gloomy but Striking Platform for Judy Greer.

      Michael Shannon has taken on a considerable challenge for his directorial debut: how can one portray overwhelmingly bleak, soul-crushing feelings of guilt without subjecting the viewer to a monotonous experience of misery? Through a patient and subdued approach, strong performances from Judy Greer and Alexander Skarsgård, and the use of uncomfortable humor within distressing situations, Eric LaRue—adapted by Brett Neveu from his own 2002 play—successfully navigates these common pitfalls and clichés.

      Judy Greer portrays Janice, a mother meandering through life in a state of pain after her son killed three of his high school classmates. Disillusioned with the Christian community she once belonged to, her husband Ron (Alexander Skarsgård, impressively stepping out of his usual roles) has embraced religion as a means of escaping reality, holding on to a blind belief that everything occurs for a reason. With Janice emotionally distant from both him and the world, Ron finds solace with Lisa (Alison Pill), a co-worker, by attending a rival evangelical church. Under the guise of Jesus’ love, Ron and Lisa test the limits of infidelity through flirtatious hugs and yearning glances. Meanwhile, Janice is trying to reintegrate into society by returning to a convenience store job, while feeling pressure from her pastor, Steve Calhan (Paul Sparks), to confront her guilt by meeting with the mothers of the boys her son murdered.

      Though there are sporadic flashbacks, the horrific event itself is never depicted, highlighting Shannon’s restraint with the challenging material. Neveu’s script focuses more on the emotional aftermath than the incident itself, especially the physical reactions one experiences during shock; a group of teenage boys playing outside evokes a painful sense of life that will never be the same. Greer carries most of the burden of conveying this stagnant grief; she embodies a vacant shell until she must face the reality of what transpired. Skarsgård’s Ron, complete with a goatee and a wardrobe of plaid shirts and jeans, embodies a Bible Belt follower trying to assert authority in their household by twisting God’s words to control his wife. However, with Janice completely disconnected from their marriage, it doesn’t have the desired effect—she sees through the superficial reassurances of his beliefs. While Eric LaRue explores the challenge of living with an unrelenting sense of suffering, it also powerfully depicts the rift between spouses regarding matters of faith. Shannon uncovers humor in the awkwardness of navigating an expired relationship where partners are on vastly different paths.

      Some segments showing this journey of grief (like Janice revisiting her son’s room for the first time) feel cliché and somewhat foreseeable, yet Shannon extracts profound emotion from extended conversations as Janice grapples with her guilt and wonders if she could have acted differently. In these intensely challenging dialogues—first with a group of mothers and then, climactically, with her own son—Shannon patiently allows the actors to explore the intricate feelings of pain, shame, and remorse. If her son came home daily in tears from being bullied, is there a part of her that could sense the unspeakable horrors he faced? Eric LaRue does not offer the easy resolutions that a more emotionally manipulative film might provide. Over the course of two heavy hours, Shannon immerses the audience in these feelings, with the only relief coming from the nervous humor of supporting characters, especially Sparks’ Pastor Steve, who pushes the mothers to heal and move forward despite being an inadequate, out-of-touch mediator as raw emotions are stirred.

      It is this genuine blend of unspeakable grief and complex human behavior that makes Eric LaRue most compelling. By the end of the viewer’s taxing experience, which marks the beginning of a new chapter for Janice, one may not feel that the emotional journey was entirely worthwhile, but they will leave with a vivid depiction of how evangelical beliefs can obscure authentic healing.

      Eric LaRue is set to hit theaters on April 4, 2025.