WETLANDS: A Soggy, Derivative Mess

Wetlands – not to be confused with the crazy-sexy-cool German film of the same name starring Carla Juri – takes its name from the area on the outskirts of Atlantic City, where the glitter of the town’s decadent casinos fades into dust. Here, the wealthy rarely, if ever, tread. Instead, the faded boardwalk neighborhood is home to a bunch of complicated characters who are either longing to escape or mourning that the opportunity to do so has seemingly passed them by.

The film chronicles one man’s inauspicious return to the Wetlands in an attempt to make amends with his family and restart his cop career. Sound familiar? It’s not the only thing about the movie that will leave you with a feeling of deja vu. There is little originality to be found in these Wetlands, and despite a few solid performances, very little to otherwise entertain.

Beyond The Boardwalk Empire

Babel ‘Babs’ Johnson (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, who first burst into viewers’ consciousnesses as the mysterious Mr. Eko on Lost) is a cop who made a name for himself on the force in Philly before addiction problems resulted in his disgrace. Newly sober, Babs returns to the Wetlands where his wealthy ex-wife Savannah (Heather Graham, having fun) and his angry preteen daughter Amy (Celeste O’Connor) still live. Savannah has since shacked up with a young punk woman known as Surfer Girl (Reyna de Courcy), who dreams of moving to Hawaii to open her own surf shop but must resort to peddling drugs for a local gangster in order to raise the funds.

The police force in this dead-end town is the only one that will give Babs a chance to start over. Paired with a veteran of the force whose name (Paddy Sheehan, naturally) and obsessions (drinking, gambling, the Philadelphia Eagles) make him feel more like a copy-and-paste collage of every cop character ever than a three-dimensional human being. Babs discerns the trouble that Surfer Girl is in and attempts to bring in the gangster for the sake of his family, but numerous forces stand in his way – including his own demons. Oh, and he also starts sleeping with Paddy’s wife, a local newscaster worried that her best days are behind her (a refreshingly brash Jennifer Ehle, as far removed from her days as Lizzie Bennet as humanly possible).

Copy And Paste

Wetlands is the debut feature film from Italian writer-director Emanuele Della Valle. Among his many influences, he cites American dramas from the 1960’s and 1970’s, Italian neorealism, Hopper paintings, jazz music and classic noir. The imprint of all is writ large on Wetlands, but unfortunately only superficially. It is as though Della Valle placed a piece of tracing paper over the screen while watching some of his favorite old films and sloppily sketched the mere outline of what made them so great onto celluloid. The result is a film that aspires to be noir, but truly is more of an unpleasant murky gray – like the waves crashing on the Jersey Shore on an unseasonably chilly day.

Every aspect of Wetlands feels cribbed from other, better films – from Babs’ struggle with addition, to his decision to sleep with his partner’s wife, from Surfer Girl’s struggle with the local mob to the entire character of Paddy Sheehan. It’s all held together by a pedantic, pretentious voiceover from Surfer Girl, a femme fatale archetype who seems to exist solely to drive Babs’ journey along. Indeed, another character even refers to her as a femme fatale at one point, as though it weren’t already clear enough to the audience. If the voiceover was designed to give a character who doesn’t even have an actual name a little more inner life, it fails miserably, due in to both the pseudo-poetic dialogue and De Courcy’s dull, monotonous inflection.

Perhaps if Wetlands had revolved around Surfer Girl, her dreams of moving to Hawaii and her affair with Savannah, the film would have felt fresher and more original – though, in order for that to work, Surfer Girl would also need to have been played by a more charismatic actress. But by focusing on Babs, yet another in a long line of troubled detectives struggling with addiction, it’s impossible to see Wetlands as anything other than an unnecessary retread.

Wetlands: Conclusion

There’s nothing wrong with wearing your influences on your sleeve; filmmakers like Quentin Tarantino and Edgar Wright have proved that you can pay homage to your favorite films and genres while still telling an original and engaging story. If Della Valle aspires to more movies post-Wetlands, he would do well to follow their example.

What do you think? Are you tired of dirty Jersey cops-and-mobsters stories? Can filmmakers still deliver fresh takes on this genre? Share your thoughts in the comments.

Wetlands is released in the U.S. on September 15, 2017. You can find more international release dates here.