Bad Man Review – Over-the-Top Country Cartel Dramady Delivers Hijinks, Entertainment
- Details
- Category: Haute This Issue
- Published on Thursday, 11 September 2025 12:33
- Written by Janet Walker
Bad Man, from Vertigo Releasing, brings to the screen a comedic drama as a tough and formidable undercover agent arrives from Chattanooga, Tennessee, to solve a murder believed to be committed by the local meth cartel.
The film opens with a mournful, and drunk, Sheriff Deputy Sam Evans, played by Johnny Simmons, lying on the top of his car, looking at the billboard that reads, "Colt Lake, Tennessee," whispering to his dead father.
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We then moves to the center of town, where a car screeches to a stop. The door opens, and an out-of-towner is ordered to get out. This is our first meeting of the country cartel, Fat trucker played by Christian Stokes, Jasper, played by Kai Caster, and Travis, played by Loren Dunn along with their deliverance dueling banjo girlfriend, Destiny, played by Jett Wilder.
As they are preaching America first even when buying meth, they ask the victim for a light. He passes them his Zippo lighter and explains that he would like to have it back, as it is a family heirloom. Minutes later, the man, played by Ryan Dempsey, believing he escaped is turned into road pizza by the country cartel.
The next morning, we see waiting at the Colt Lake police station, Bobby Gaines, played by Seann William Scott, a badass, confident, by his book, no nonsense super agent, here in nowheresville to solve this murder and find the meth connection. Waiting at the door is Chief of Police Sandy, played by Rob Riggle, and once we meet the deputy's Sam Evans, DJ, played by Chance Perdomo and Gary O'Brian, played by Andre Hyland, Gaines takes the lead, and everyone, like it or not, falls in behind him.
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With a suspected meth cartel murder, and this assertive, take charge, Special Narcotics Task Force agent suddenly the man in this one stoplight, blink and you'll miss it, town, Sam and DJ pulled the short straws and are now partnering up the Bobby Gaines. Gaines is immediately welcomed like a hero. But as they dig deeper, all may not be what it seems with this strange new savior.
Now the three of them are visiting suspects, one by one, we see that Sam, who is a congenial, gullible, nice guy, is not treated with the respects he deserves. We understand that is partly because everyone knows him, he was born and raised in Colt Lake, and he can never escape the impression, even as a local sports hero, that he is weak, and wouldn't be able to find a clue if it left a neon trail.
Which makes Colt Lake the perfect place to build a meth lab. As Gaines gets closer to finding out who killed the stranger, Evan's slowly loses his friendly persona and finds his inner authority. It doesn't last for long, though, as Sam and DJ, who are on this high priority stake out, fall back into their old ways of goofing out when they should be focused.
Finally, Evans, when ordered by Gaines, is exposed to real action, which leads to the big reveal, and a super surprising and climatic ending.
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Bad Man, an over-the-top country cartel comedic drama filled with hijinks and entertainment and will leave audiences guessing throughout the entire film. It is filled with unexpected twists, turns, hooks-up, and romance.
The ensemble cast deliver solid performances bringing supply humor and laugh out loud shenanigans. Bad Man is the debut feature from director and writer Michael Diliberti and co-written by JJ Nelson.
Bad Man will be available across the UK and Ireland, on September 22, 2025, through digital download via Apple TV, Amazon Prime Video, Sky Store platforms. See it.
Country: UK.
Language: English.
Runtime: 97 minutes.
Directed By: Michael Diliberti.
Produced By: Warner Davis, Todd Friedman, Shaun Sanghani, Brian Levy.
Written By: Michael Diliberti, JJ Nelson.
Cast: Seann William Scott, Rob Riggle, Johnny Simmons, Lovi Poe, Andre Hyland, Chance Perdomo, Christian Stokes, Kai Caster, Loren Dunn, Jett Wilder, Kaitlin Doubleday, Jack Conley.
Janet Walker is the publisher, founder, and sole owner of Haute-Lifestyle.com. A graduate of New York University, she has been covering international news through the Beltway Insider, a weekly review of the nation's top stories, for more than a decade. A general beat writer/reporter and entertainment/film critic, she is also an accomplished news/investigative news/crime reporter and submitted for Pulitzer Prize consideration "Cops Conspire to Deep Six Sex Assaults" in the Breaking News Category and was persuaded to withdraw the submission. Ms. Walker has completed five screenplays, "The Six Sides of Truth," "The Assassins of Fifth Avenue," "The Wednesday Killer," "The Manhattan Project," and the sci-fi thriller "Project 13: The Last Day." She has completed the non-fiction narrative, "Unholy Alliances: A True Crime Story," and "Days, Times, Seasons, Events: A Collection of Poetry & Prose," are available on Amazon. She is a member of the Los Angeles Press Club, the National Writers Union, and a member of the International Federation of Journalists.
