Promised Land

Featured players Matt Damon and John Krasinski wrote the screenplay for this slightly undercooked social protest drama. Based on a story by Dave Eggers, it shapes up initially as an anti-fracking drama with the special twist of having an easygoing corporate deal-maker (Damon) as its central character. Frances McDormand, Rosemarie DeWitt and Hal Holbrook all have distinctive roles in the pitched political battle that ensues when an environmental activist played by Krasinski intervenes to encourage resistance to blandishments of Damon’s company. Director Gus Van Sant does a nice job of staging the outbreaks of controversy in the story’s economically depressed farming community, but the climactic twists of plot and character lack conviction, politically and psychologically. Cinemark 14. Rated R.