Jeff Probst, he of Rock and Roll Jeopardy fame, wrote and directed this very-talky drama. Starring three of the more well-known younger character actors of our day (Dash Mihok, Matthew Lillard, and to hopefully-soon-to-be Mr. Morrisette, Ryan Reynolds) along with elder statesmen James Earl Jones and Robert Forster, Finder’s Fee starts off slow. Not so much slow, as painful. I had a lot of trouble getting into it, and when I did, I had trouble not yelling at the screen for how obvious the pacing and acting were. But it grew on me, like the cadence of a Mamet production, and it can only be hoped that this direction was intentional. Two thirds of the way through, it takes an interesting twist, and in grand twist fashion, ends with another. Perhaps the stage would have been a better format for this one set-piece production, but a commendable debut for Mr. Probst, and he shouldn’t worry too much if that game-show hosting gig doesn’t pan out.

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