Crumb Catcher opens with a sensory assault that sets the tone for the film’s all style, no little substance (or at least, confounding substance) approach: Leah (Ella Ray Peck) and Shane (Rigo Garay) stand in front of a backdrop, taking post-wedding photos in their dress and tux. Flashbulbs fire as chaotically as the photographer issues his directions, prompting them to turn, to look at each other lovingly— no, more lovingly than that. The stiltedness that Leah and Shane exhibit toward each other in this scene makes their dynamic that we see immediately afterward make sense. Leah works for a publishing house that is preparing to publish a book Shane wrote about his estranged relationship with his alcoholic father. They’re even going to stay at Leah’s boss’s ritzy home, decked out in artwork that has an expensive air, for their honeymoon. So when Shane suddenly wants to back out of the publishing deal, tensions immediately mount between the take-charge Leah and her aimless new spouse.
Writer and director Chris Skotchdopole’s (he also serves as producer and editor) first feature sets up this charged relationship, and then plants in into a bizarre and scary situation that only becomes more those things the longer it drags on. While they are preparing to leave on their honeymoon, Leah and Shane are accosted by John (John Speredakos), an obnoxious waiter who seems overly invested in amending an issue they had with their cake topper. He’s the sort of guy who’s a little too friendly, a little too helpful, and doesn’t know when to exit a conversation, but he doesn’t appear overly threatening— that is, until he shows up in the middle of the night at their vacation home with the cake topper. Soon, he and his wife Rose (Lorraine Farris) have ingratiated themselves into the space, insisting that Shane and Leah witness a presentation of a product they have invented titled the Crumb Catcher.
Crumb Catcher could best be classified as a home invasion thriller, but it is tepid on the thrill front at best. The film most hits its stride in the queasy uncomfortableness of the handful of scenes when John first appears at the home. Once he’s inside, Leah and Shane have difficulty getting him out in as cordial a way possible. He puts the cake topper in the fridge, but then asks to use the restroom. Then he requests a drink, making a point to set his glass next to the coaster on the coffee table. He steamrolls right over any attempt to end the conversation. Leah is a bit more forceful, but Shane— to her consternation— lets John mow right over him, humoring his every request. But there’s a reason for this beyond allowing him to use his good manners against him: John and Rose have a little bit of blackmail they’re holding over Shane’s head, and he doesn’t want Leah to find out.
There are some intriguing bits of business here, but they are sprinkled, like crumbs, throughout Skotchdopole’s film, as opposed to being the driving force behind it. It is a stylish film— he makes good use of space and knows how to move the camera around it— but there’s a sense that this is all building to something that ultimately goes nowhere. There’s something to the dueling couple dynamics— one taking advantage of the other, sweeping up their little messes— but the film doesn’t exploit that to the fullest extent, namely because, despite everything the beginning and most of the middle of the movie seems to be pointing to, the ending asks us to believe that there is real love and affection in Leah and Shane’s relationship. But the pair has no chemistry, and appears to have a relationship built solely on mutual need. It’s a baffling turn that causes the already ponderous film to fizzle out in its final stretch. The reliably great Speredakos is fun to watch— he finds the right mix of irritating and scary without going too over-the-top— but everyone and everything else in Crumb Catcher is straining for some meaningful commentary on the give-and-take nature of relationships that never coheres.
Crumb Catcher screens locally at the Arkadin Cinema and Bar on August 3, and will be available to rent and purchase on all digital platforms on August 20. Runtime: 103 minutes.
Katie at the Movies 