Dwayne (Liam Hemsworth) wants to leave the small town of Cut Bank, Montana. Like most small towns many people don't want to leave their comfort zone, something that plays into the background information. Dwayne works at an auto body shop for Big Stan (Billy Bob Thorton) and dates his daughter Cassandra (Teresa Palmer). Her goal in life is to be Miss Cut Bank.

While Dwayne is out filming Cassandra in a field doing a community promo, he happens to catch on film the murder of the local postman (Bruce Dern). The local sheriff (John Malkovich) investigates the town's first murder. Dwayne tries to collect a reward offered by the post office for information of the murder of one of their employees. However he can't get paid until they find the body which is missing as well as the postal vehicle.

Eleven minutes into the film we find out what is going on and just try to guess how many are involved. Derby Milton (Michael Stuhlbarg) is a taxidermist and a recluse most of the town thought was dead. He suddenly appears wanting his missing parcel and independently goes about solving the crime. Derby speaks with a stutter and is described as a "Mongoloid." He is strong for his size and appears to be a dimwit on the surface which is a misconception.

As the bodies start to pile up, the film shifts into a fair dark comedy. One theme of the production is that small towns are prisons where people volunteer to stay, but once they leave, they don't come back. The film has quirk value (what Malkovich doesn't) but it is light compared to what we have been exposed.

Guide: F-bomb. No sex or nudity.

With rare exceptions small towns in American cinema are between two extremes. Either they are the ideal place, a shelter against the corruption of the big city or they're these stifling places of conformity where people want to bust loose as soon as possible. In It's A Wonderful Life George Bailey finds it first one way then the other. But in Cut Bank both the title of the film and the town where all the characters live it's most definitely the latter at least that's what Liam Hemsworth finds.

But he's got obligations and a girl he loves in Teresa Palmer daughter of Billy Bob Thornton the richest guy in town. Hemsworth one fine day gets lucky, as he's videoing Palmer for a local beauty pageant in a field he happens to tape David Burke a very silent and stoic Blackfoot Indian shoot mailman Bruce Dern and then take off with the mail truck.

Too good to be true. Clues to solving a federal crime involving the mails is payable by Uncle Sam's post office with a six figure reward. And postal official Oliver Platt is here to pay off. But when things are too good to be true they generally are. Then some bodies start piling up and a local eccentric played by Michael Stuhlbarg starts on a hunt for a missing parcel that was supposed to be delivered in the mail by Dern.

Just like Fargo, another small town setting with a crime spree that originates with a plan dreamed up by an amateur and carried out by idiots.

Cut Bank, Montana is certainly not Bedford Falls. It's more like the film Fargo. In fact there's one very definite parallel, the relationship between Hemsworth and Thornton is almost a duplicate of the one that amateur master criminal William H. Macy has with his father-in-law Harve Presnell. Presnell and Thornton treat the son-in- law and prospective son-in-law like manure which is half the problem.

Sheriff John Malkovich whose sleepy little Montana town has never recorded a murder is soon awash in bodies. But when the truth comes out there's a surprise ending I guarantee you won't see coming especially if you think this is a Fargo clone.

The cast ensemble delivers good performances but if I had to pick one out it would be Stuhlbarg. His town eccentric hermit is underplayed and frightening at the same time, a difficult thing to pull off.

Cut Bank, Montana a town with an unexpected crime wave.

After reading the reviews here I was not expecting much with Cut Bank. But at the end of the movie I have to admit that I truly enjoyed this movie. I first was a little bit annoyed by the "parcel" at the end but the next day I suddenly figured it out and then I was even more satisfied with this movie. The stars in this movie are Michael Stuhlbarg, Billy Bob Thorton and John Malkovic. Liam Hemsworth was okay but he shouldn't have had the major role. The other actors were all good as well and made this movie better then the reviews want you to believe. It all starts slowly, but the more you get in the story the better it gets. I saw better movies for sure but I saw also a load of worse movies then Cut Bank. Certainly worth a watch.