There are plenty of ingredients here to make The Girl in the River a good murder mystery thriller. An isolated town, a murdered girl, a missing twin sister, a mysterious killer and an investigative team trying to slowly figure out what exactly happened. The concept is there. The settings fit the kind of story being told, and the cast also features enough familiar faces to grab your attention.
Still, The Girl in the River ultimately proves that having the right ingredients does not automatically result in a good movie.
An Interesting Premise
The story revolves around two teenage sisters who are abducted. The body of one of them is later recovered from the Mississippi River, while the other remains missing. Criminologist Alan Kramer (Devon Sawa) is assigned to the case and receives help from profiler Amelia Pembrock (Maggie Grace). Together, they try to figure out who is responsible and what happened to the missing girl.
On paper, this is definitely the kind of concept that should appeal to fans of crime thrillers. There are plenty of opportunities for suspicious characters, hidden motives and unexpected revelations. The movie also has a number of good ideas that could have worked quite well with a stronger script and a little more energy.
Unfortunately, everything is handled in a rather simplistic way.
Not Enough Suspense in The Girl in the River
A large part of The Girl in the River consists of characters talking to each other, questioning suspects and trying to piece together information. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that in itself. A good detective movie obviously does not need constant action, car chases or violence.
The problem is that the movie simply does not do enough to make these conversations suspenseful or particularly interesting.
Many scenes feel like they are mainly there to move information from one scene to the next. Characters explain what they have discovered, someone is questioned, another piece of information is revealed, and then we move on. At times, it feels more like watching a police interrogation than watching an exciting thriller.
And that is a shame, because a movie like this should really thrive on the tension surrounding the question of who you can and cannot trust.
The Audience Is Often Ahead of the Characters
There is another problem. These kinds of murder mysteries rarely work very well when the audience manages to put the pieces of the puzzle together before the main characters do.
And that happens quite often here.
Instead of constantly trying to figure things out alongside the characters, you regularly find yourself waiting for them to reach the same conclusion you arrived at some time ago. As a result, several potential twists lose their impact before they actually happen.
The mystery therefore becomes more about waiting for the characters to catch up than actually trying to solve the case alongside them.
The Movie Needed More Character
Perhaps the biggest thing The Girl in the River is missing is a more personal angle.
You understand what the characters are doing, but you don't really understand why it matters so much to them. There is a certain emotional layer missing that would make you more invested in their investigation.
This is particularly true of the main characters. Devon Sawa and Maggie Grace do what they can with their roles, but the script simply does not give them enough material to turn them into truly interesting characters. Tiffany Haddish brings some additional personality to the movie as police commander Erica Graysmith, while Ralph Macchio is also a welcome presence.
The cast is therefore not really the biggest problem with the movie. The problem is that by the end, you never really feel like you have gotten to know these people.
This Might Have Worked Better as a TV-Series Episode
In many ways, The Girl in the River feels like an episode of a crime series that just happens to run for an hour and a half.
That is not necessarily a bad thing. In fact, I think this concept might have worked better as part of a longer-running series. If you already knew the main characters, there would be less need to spend time establishing their personalities and the movie could move more quickly into the mystery itself.
An episode in which Alan Kramer and Amelia Pembrock investigate another case might actually work quite well.
Here, however, the movie has only 92 minutes to introduce its characters while also telling a complete murder mystery. As a result, the character development in particular feels rather thin.
Looks Good and the Cast Does Its Job
Fortunately, The Girl in the River is not a movie that looks cheap or amateurish. The cinematography and locations provide the right atmosphere, and overall the movie looks quite polished. That is important for a thriller like this, as the isolated environment and darker nature of the story require a certain visual style.
The acting is also often perfectly fine. Devon Sawa is convincing enough as the experienced criminologist, Maggie Grace does a good job as the young profiler, and Tiffany Haddish once again shows that she can handle a more serious role. Ralph Macchio is also a familiar and welcome addition to the cast.
The main problem is that the characters and the script prevent the actors from getting the most out of the material.
Conclusion: Decent Enough for Murder Mystery Fans
The Girl in the River is certainly not a complete failure. There are simply too many good ingredients for that. The concept works, the settings fit the story, the movie looks good and the cast manages to deliver some solid performances.
Ultimately, however, it never becomes the engaging murder mystery thriller it could have been.
The simplistic writing, lack of energy and failure to find a more personal emotional angle prevent the movie from really pulling you into its story. The amount of talking and questioning in particular could have been handled in a much more suspenseful and interesting way.
Still, fans of murder mystery thrillers will find enough here to keep them entertained for an hour and a half. Just don't expect a movie that constantly has you on the edge of your seat or keeps you guessing who the killer is.
Rating: 5/10
