A sort of drawn Gone Girl comes into play:
When a woman’s priceless wall realizes that she’s pretending her husband is missing. By giving him the attention he so desperately craves. She goes to the police and appears on the news all the time to milk her. But the things it quickly gets out of hand. When it turns out that her husband is involved in dubious matters. And her little white lie could have more significant consequences than she ever imagined.
Sue Buttons (Alison Gianni) wants more. She’s the kind of the woman who does walks around the grocery store repeating statements like “Your story matters” and “You matter”. And if the bakery misspells her name on her birthday cake, she doesn’t argue much.
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She hopes her husband Carl (Matthew Modine) has a surprise for his birthday, but the encounter seems lost. Just like her sister Nancy (Mila Kunis). After following Carl to a motel, Sue discovers he is having an affair with Leah (Bridget Everett). And Carl is in the middle of an attraction.
Sue threatens to get Leah in trouble for killing her husband “with her vagina,” and after he leaves, Sue buries Carl’s body (and the $3 million bag that some shady people connected with him have) in a kindergarten motel.
The next day, Sue goes to the police to report Carl’s disappearance. But he is turned down by Detective Harris (Regina Hall) because there is not enough time to report him missing.
Desperate for confirmation, Sue reaches out to her sister, a news producer, Nancy, and announces her lie. Soon Sue gets all the attention and sympathy she’s been dreaming of. Even if the police are a little sceptical about her story.
When Sue puts on a big show:
Carl Pete’s brother (Jimmy Simpson) does his best to negotiate with the owners of the $3 million that Sue. Mina (Aquafina), and Ray (Clifton Collins Jr.) have accidentally buried. Carl is responsible. Things get more complicated (and dangerous) when the truth threatens to emerge. And the stakes rise higher than Sue had imagined.
I don’t often get confused by tiny indies like this. Still, Breaking News in Yuba County did something extraordinary and proved that even the stellar cast couldn’t put aside a sloppy script and directing brilliance. There are so many moments when I stop and ask myself, “What is he doing in this movie?”
It looks like another top player wasted in seconds. This well-deserved cast deserves much better than Breaking News in Yuba County, a strangely vicious and inconsistent film from a film that doesn’t have a central message or motive.
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Sure, I could say something interesting about white women using their tears and our obsession with these kinds of tragic cases, but I’m not even sure it’s about discussing the Breaking News in Yuba County. I’m not sure the Breaking News in Yuba County is trying to cover anything. He tries to be funny and then continues to laugh at you with brute strength, and the oddly inappropriate result makes things even weirder.
I want to grit my teeth at a solid satire, but this isn’t the Breaking News in Yuba County. Instead, we were left with something empty, missing some of our best players, which was disappointing (and a complete waste of time for us viewers).
Not even a cast that includes heavyweights like Alison Gianni, Wanda Sykes, and Regina Hall can save Breaking News in Yuba County from a reckless and gruesome attempt at a dark satire.