The Details

A suburban husband (Tobey Maguire) discovers a plague of raccoons in his backyard, and his attempt to deal with the pests starts a chain of events that threaten to unravel his relationships with his wife (Elizabeth Banks), his best friend and her husband (Kerry Washington, Ray Liotta), a casual basketball buddy (Dennis Haysbert), and his next-door neighbor (Laura Linney). Writer-director Jacob Aaron Estes' script is darkly funny, but with a huge emphasis on the darkness. The movie is unsettling, even disturbing, as our hapless protagonist's world spirals helplessly into adultery, blackmail and murder. It's hardly fun to sit through, but impossible to look away as we wonder what awful thing is going to happen next. Only a faint glimmer of hope at the end redeems our anxiety. Fine performances all around.