Clawfoot (2024)

Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone

Right from the beginning, it feels like more is going on than we see, and it’s fun seeing how things move along as we find out. In general, it’s a fun movie, with lots of humor that gets crazier as it goes along. It’s very funny and very dark. Two kids of very famous actors prove they can come through on their own merits, the cast and everything else is very good. We liked it.

Spoilery Synopsis

Janet looks at herself in a mirror as she puts on makeup. We then get establishing shots around her house as she cleans and does housework. A man comes to the door and says he has a work order to update the bathroom, but she doesn’t know anything about it; her husband ordered it. Leo offers to call her husband to straighten out the misunderstanding, but he only gets a voicemail. He’s pushy, but she doesn’t demand that he leave. She lets him in, and the credits roll. 

Leo gets to work, and Janet soon finds him walking around the bedroom with his shirt off, as is his assistant Sammy. He puts on his shirt and helps her cook lunch. He keeps commenting on her house, her money, her absent husband, and everything else that’s inappropriate and personal. She imagines knocking him out but doesn’t do it. 

Janet’s friend Tasha comes over with her kid, Darren, in tow. Tasha’s a lawyer, and she knows creepy stuff about her murderer clientele. Janet doesn’t know where her husband, Evan, went. He left this morning and didn’t go to work; his car is in the garage. 

Leo takes Evan’s violin out of the closet and starts playing. She demands that he leave, but he refuses. When she threatens to call the police, he laughs. Leo and Sammy take a break for lunch. She fantasizes about killing him again, twice. Evan still isn’t answering his phone, and she starts to get annoyed. 

Janet walks young Darren home, and the two handymen make themselves at home while she’s gone. Tasha talks about how bad Evan was toward his previous wife as she polishes her throwing knives. 

Janet goes home and loses her patience with Leo, who’s still stalling. Once again, she pictures herself killing him. He says they’ll be back at 10 a.m.

That night, she fantasizes about him breaking in and her killing him. When she wakes up in the morning, the two men have returned and are eating breakfast. Janet checks her bank account, and there’s nothing there about a deposit for the bathroom upgrade. He’s aggressive and “gaslighty.” Leo explains that Evan gave him a ton of money to “launder” and that he gave him some fake invoices. 

Leo makes it clear that he’s in control and he wants some money. He leaves for another night, and she goes to bed. Leo sneaks in through a window in the garage. He finds Evan, Janet’s husband, tied up in the garage; he complains that he’s been there for days. There has been a bit of a miscommunication about Leo actually doing the work versus just money laundering. The people that Evan works for are very “connected,” and Evan says he doesn’t have any money for Leo to take. 

Leo doesn’t release him. Evan calls for Janet who hits Leo over the head for real this time. The much-larger Leo easily overpowers Janet for a while, but it soon becomes cat-and-mouse. She wins. 

In the morning, Janet has Leo’s truck towed away. She calls Tasha to come over, as a lawyer this time. She shows Tasha what she’s done; there are now two men tied up in the garage. Janet gives Tasha $100,000 in cash from her safe. 

Sammy comes by, looking for Leo. He admits that he’s an ex-con with no phone or GPS. Tasha perks right up at hearing that. He hears voices from the garage and comes inside, just in time to find Tasha and Janet talking about cutting up bodies. Tasha takes out her frustrations on the strange little man. 

They have a surprisingly good time dismembering him. Then they order lunch to be delivered. It’s time to kill Evan, but first, Janet reads him a letter that she wrote. He says she just got old and she has terrible taste, so she has no problem stabbing him. 

The two men break loose, and Leo uses Evan as a human shield, which slows Janet down for less than half a second. Tasha goes to work on Leo with an electric saw. Leo hits the garage door opener and makes a run for it. The two girls run him down with the car not far from the delivery driver, but he misses the actual impact. The driver doesn’t ask any questions when they grab the food in blood-covered raincoats. 

Tasha goes inside with the food while Janet crawls on the floor and cuddles dead-Evan. She smiles at the camera.  

Brian’s Commentary

Francesca Eastwood is Clint’s daughter, and Milo Gibson is Mels’ son. 

The gaslighting just goes on for far too long to be believable. Anyone with any sense would have called the police, had them trespassed, and just eaten the lost deposit. We figured there had to be some reason she didn’t do that, something like she’d killed her husband earlier. We were– close. 

It’s got some funny bits, and it’s definitely a dark comedy, but it’s not a joke-a-minute until the last half hour or so, and then it gets pretty crazy. The acting is good all around, and it all looks good. 

Very nice!

Kevin’s Commentary

I thought this was a lot of fun, one that started good and kept getting better as it went along. Everything about it from the cast to the effects was well put together. It’s a good one for sure.