Beautiful Creatures

REVIEW
Two beautiful young women, regularly brutalized by their respective thug boyfriends, meet when Dorothy (Lynch) rescues Petula (Weisz) from a near-death choking by braining vicious Brian with a piece of rebar (when will people learn not to fight at construction sites?). Brian subsequently dies. Inquiries by Brian’s older brother Ronnie coincide with that of a borderline psychotic police detective inspector. Dorothy’s dog Pluto bites a finger off the corpse, providing an opportunity for the girls to set up a bogus blackmail scheme. Ronnie thinks Brian is alive and shaking him down; the cop knows the finger came from a dead guy, but goes along with the ruse, casually doubling the requested ransom amount; and Dorothy’s brutal junkie ex gets the scent of easy money. Dorothy and Petula form a bond that strengthens them to withstand all assaults, to overcome all obstacles, to defy all the bastard men and their curious affinity for golf. A fresh sensibility and an engagingly kinetic energy from director Eagles support the solid ensemble performances. A modern-day noir, it’s been done before, but not always this well.