Their first day they go into a bar and grill where any sensible person would know to make an immediate U-turn and walk out again. You've seen this place in dozens of movies. Everybody knows one another. They inhabit a macho bar culture where violence is always close to the surface. When the former beauty queen walks in with her new husband (who wears glasses and drives a classic Jaguar of about the vintage of the Peckinpah movie), she is the immediate focus of passively aggressive attention. Comments are made that are not quite intended to be heard.
Charlie (Alexander Skarsgard), Amy's high school boyfriend, comes over to their booth to say hello. He is tall, muscular, cold-eyed, superficially nice. David treats him with just a shade too much friendliness. You know what I mean. He smiles too readily, falls into pleasant cadences and is subtly condescending. His attitude translates as: "I may not be a bar-bum redneck like you, but if it makes you feel better, I'll pretend to be."
Bad luck. Charlie and his posse have been hired to repair the barn. An unspoken aggression develops. They arrive for work too early. David stupidly climbs their ladder in bedroom slippers to complain they were awakened. One of the crew walks into the kitchen and helps himself to several beers, complaining they aren't cold enough. David complains to Charlie. "Don't you trust us?" Charlie asks. There is no way this situation is going to get better.
The local men are sexual predators capable of rape. Amy, who comes from their culture, resents the way their eyes drink in her nipples under a sweaty T-shirt. David suggests maybe she should have worn a bra. She is offended that she can't wear what she wants on her own property. Later, she commits an acting of sexual provocation against the men that amounts to psychological violence, or maybe simple stupidity.
A subplot involves the way the town centers on high school football and local church services, which interlock sports and religion. One of the regulars in the bar is the former coach, Tom Heddon (James Woods). It's possible to wonder if being coached by this vicious man has influenced a whole local generation. James Woods is spellbinding in the role: Hard, mean as hell, quick-triggered.
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