A young man (Mark Dew) is addicted to drugs and unable to show up for work on time. His father (David Bannon) rides his a*s, and when his son gets fired from a factory job, he puts the twentysomething to work on his farm. Disaster soon follows.
There’s been plenty of movies about young drug addicts. There are plenty better than this one, too. What “The Good Worker” does have going for it, though, is its silence. There is little conversation to be found here. Barked orders and questions and quick phone calls for a hook-up are all one will hear. That’s a nice switch from most other movies of this type, but that silence makes it a bit boring.
Bannon’s film feels more real than a lot of drug addict cinema, but real doesn’t always make for a compelling story. If we had more insight into the young man we may have better sympathized with his plight. Instead, we’re left as cold as the man’s relationship with his father, and that’s no way to watch a movie … or is it?
