5lbs of Pressure
Written and Directed by Phil Allocco
Starring: Luke Evans, Rory Culkin, Alex Pettyfer
Rated R
Runtime: 1 hour, 50 minutes
In Theaters, On Digital and On Demand on March 8.

by Gary M. Kramer, Staff Writer

5lbs of Pressure is an agonizingly bad redemption tale about Adam (Luke Evans), an ex-con who has just completed his parole. Adam was incarcerated for 13 years for a murder and has been out for 3 years. Returning to his old neighborhood, he wants only to reconnect with Jimmy (Rudy Pankow) the teenage son he never knew—if only his ex, Donna (Stephanie Leonidas) would let him.

This set up is pretty contrived, but writer/director Phil Allocco makes it worse by adding a revenge storyline involving Eli (Zac Adams), the brother of Adam’s victim. Eli is friendly with Mike (Rory Culkin), whose uncle Leff (Alex Pettyfer) is a small-time drug dealer in Red Hook (check the accents). Through a series of events too predictable to bother recounting, Eli ends up with one of Leff’s guns in a bar where Adam works. In the film’s opening moments, shots are fired in darkness. Then the film flashes back to four days prior to recount the events leading up to the fateful shooting.

But not knowing who shot whom doesn’t create much dramatic tension. 5lbs of Pressure never makes viewers care about its cardboard characters. Adam has regret and is trying to improve his life. Mike wants to go to Austin and play music. Eli is on a downward spiral because he is a hothead with a long-suffering girlfriend, Lori (Savannah Steyn), a job he is about to lose, and a mother losing it now that Adam is off parole.

The film is so uninspired that viewers can’t get invested in Adam’s efforts to build a relationship with Jimmy. A scene of Adam teaching his son how to draw is meant to be poignant, but it comes off as cheap sentiment. The big scene of Donna telling Jimmy who Adam is lacks emotional force despite the actors shouting in their lousy accents.

The revenge subplot is even worse, with Eli hoping to settle a score as Mike hopes to make one last big drug score so he can leave town. A storyline where Eli catches Lori sleeping with Mike is simply groan inducing. And while Mike may be so naïve that he thinks he can go behind his best friend’s Eli’s back with his girlfriend, Mike also thinks he can cheat Leff, too.

No wagering on where his character ends up.

Allocco takes too long to set up these storylines about second chances and none of them hold any surprises. Nor do the characters ever come to life. Luke Evans tries to underplay as Adam, but his scenes with Jimmy make him out to be more like a pedophile than a father pining for the son he never knew. Rory Culkin also feels miscast as Mike, whose is in way over his head. Culkin’s performance is equally unsteady; he never finds the right pitch for the scene, as when he tries to be threatening during a drug run in a biker bar. As Eli, Zac Adams, who also produced, gets a showy role, but a scene of him taking his frustrations out on his job site is risible.

The only decent moment in this film is an episode showing Adam committing the senseless murder that sets the story in motion. 5lbs of Pressure features several characters who are remorseful. Viewers who see this film all the way through will likely feel deep regret.