Maggie Moore(s) (2023)

3 Stars (out of 4)

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By Jeffrey M. Anderson

The crime comedy Maggie Moore(s) feels a bit like Coen Brothers-lite, with some rough edges and uneven pacing, but it has a fine, witty, wicked spirit, and a great cast that clicks together in entertaining ways.

Jay Moore (Micah Stock) manages a sub sandwich shop, and cuts corners by buying expired ingredients from Tommy T (Derek Basco). Jay's wife Maggie (Louisa Krause) discovers a package containing illegal pornography belonging to Tommy. She kicks him out and threatens to expose his scheme. Jay hires a tough ruffian, Kosco (Happy Anderson), to scare her a little, but she winds up dead.

Jay learns about the existence of another Maggie Moore (Mary Holland), and gets the idea to have Kosco kill her, too, to deflect suspicion away from Jay. It falls to Chief Jordan Sanders (Jon Hamm) and the clever Deputy Reddy (Nick Mohammed, from Ted Lasso) to solve the case, with a little help from a nosy neighbor, Rita (Tina Fey).

Directed by John Slattery, who re-teams with his old Mad Men colleague Hamm, Maggie Moore(s) demonstrates that, even if the Coens make comedies about bumbling criminals (Raising Arizona, Fargo, O Brother, Where Art Thou?, Burn After Reading, etc.) look easy, it's not.

Promising that "some of this actually happened," the movie stretches a bit on the first Maggie's death. Why would Jay have Tommy T's pornography at his house? Why would Jay hire a hitman to "scare" his wife, and why would the otherwise competent Kosco "accidentally" kill her? (And in such a vicious way, burned alive inside a car?)

But once things get going and the story falls into the hands of Hamm, Mohammed and Fey, Maggie Moore(s) brightens up considerably. Slattery seems comfortable with his cast, and he allows them to stretch out into their natural warmth and humor. Hamm and Mohammed make a terrific team, while a romantic flame between Hamm and Fey might have felt tacked-on, but instead it's kind of adorable.