Where do I start? First the positives. The performances are okay but nothing memorable. Beautifully shot by Gregg Easterbrook giving a proper carmine tone to reflect the proceedings taking place in a small dusty Texas town. The score is slightly ambitious and overbearing for a flick that with few cuts and ADR should be perfect as Lifetime offering.
Nothing original about the plot. Girl (Haley Webb) meets a drifter (all smoldering Josh Henderson), become lovers with just bat of an eye and intense gaze and somehow construed to conned their way to riches only to find obstacles in shape of town Sheriff (Beau Bridges) with his deputy Earl (Jordan Bridges) in tow. I bet Bridges told the producers he will work for half the pay for price of two Bridges. The grifters also had to contend with the appearance of maniacal Edward (Crispian Belfrage) looking for the share of the loot.
Rushlights aim to be the type of B-grade noirish we used to get plentiful of in late 80's and early 90's with smattering of violence, characters with hidden agenda and oodles of nudity to cover for the familiarity of the plot and distract us until the final twist. Only that Rushlights lacked nearly all the ingredients listed. The flick needed something to make it a standout in the genre. Violence is minimal. Sleazy factor is zero. Shocking scenes to jolt us out of stupor.
Tacked on climax(es) is just plain ridiculous.
Aidan Quinn was pretty absorbing with his Texan lawyer persona. The guy needs to be a regular player on TV-circuit than merely being guest stars and supporting roles in films.
Josh is safe from unemployment thanks to TV's Dallas. He needs to put in more effort beyond getting in someone face or staring at them like they stole his bicycle or something.
English actor Crispian doesn't bother to hide his accent but comes off best especially in scenes with Haley which itself felt restrained when you needed the pair cat-and-mouse game to be more graphic in nature.
As a fan of film nudity, there is nothing from lovely Haley. Strangely, I would been disappointed if she went nude. I think she is way too talented to be involved in this middling effort. She got nothing to work with here. Her ability to emote in dramatic scenes is wasted on such a thin material worsened by flimsy clichéd dialogues. It's time for Haley to take a chance and step out of her comfort zone before it's too late. Young actresses have expiry date in youth-obsessed Hollywood.
