The Integrity of Joseph Chambers (2022) – Film Review
Director: Robert Machoian
Cast: Clayne Crawford, Jordana Brewster, Jeffrey Dean Morgan
Certificate: 15
By Roger Crow
An insurance salesman, hoping to prove his survivalist skills to his family, irresponsibly goes hunting alone. But he isn’t prepared for what lies ahead.
That’s the premise of this 96-minute drama which takes its time exploring the, er, integrity of its eponymous character.
Now I don’t know about you, but sitting through 96 minutes exploring the integrity of a generic insurance salesman is my idea of hell. But this is one of those morality tales which teaches us many things. If you have to go hunting defenceless animals, don’t go alone, and make sure you know there’s nothing which might get hit by accident. Which is sort of a given anyway. Pretty sure the odd episode of Doc Martin covered that in half the time with far more success.
“Soul-searching”
Among the supporting cast is Jordana Brewster, who became famous in the Fast and Furious movies. She has little to do except be alluring for her ill-fated fella, and that’s about it. The Slow and the Tedious is the inevitable alt-title as a bad thing happens and we focus on how much angst the titular character endures. So much regret. The poor guy. All he wants to do is sell insurance, fit in with his macho mates, and bed his beautiful partner, but no. He had to go out and shoot things didn’t he? Bad Joseph Chambers.
Popping up at the end is Jeffrey Dean Morgan as cinema’s most empathetic cop. The Walking Dead veteran only has a few mins on screen, but boy does he make the most of them. Is he worth a watch, man. It’s a gag, about one of his previous films, and as bad as that is, it’s better than all the soul-searching and misery on display here.
Writer-director Robert Machoian makes the best of a limited budget, and obviously a minimal cast. And as good as Clayne Crawford is as the troubled protagonist, I just wanted so much more.
However, the outdoors scenes are well shot, and lovers of indie films about doing the right thing may warm to its message, but by the end you may be left wondering was that it.
