It's a shame that most of The Guilty is so contrived, because the ending is immensely satisfying. The final twist comes seconds before the credits roll, and man, it's just perfect. Too bad everything that comes before it is riddled with hokey contortions of logic and unlikely coincidences.

First we meet Nathan (Devon Sawa), a small-time criminal reuniting with his old crew after a prison stint. You know these guys are going to be trouble because they pick Nathan up from prison in a stolen car.

There's nothing especially wrong with Sawa's performance, but he doesn't quite fit the role. He's a little too well-coiffed and a little too fashionable. An ex-con living in his car shouldn't look so much like he just left a GQ photo shoot.

Next we meet Callum (Bill Pullman), a high-end lawyer; and Sophie (Gabrielle Anwar), a new secretary at his law firm. Sophie agrees to a date with Callum despite the fact that he's married. They go back to her apartment and kiss, but Sophie has a change of heart before they close the deal. Unfortunately, Callum won't take no for an answer. Not only does he assault her, he sabotages her job at the firm to destroy her credibility in case she makes an accusation against him.

Meanwhile, Nathan learns that the man who raised him is not his biological father. Before his mother got married, she had a one-time tryst with Callum Crane, attorney extraordinaire. Nathan starts concocting plans to meet Callum.

Cut back to Sophie, who learns that Callum has just accepted a federal judgeship. The thought of her attacker being a judge disgusts her, so she goes to him with an ultimatum: either he declines the judgeship, or she goes public with her accusations.

This is already a whole lot of moving parts, but buckle up, it only gets bumpier from here.

Nathan's car gets totaled in an accident. The other driver is none other than Sophie's roommate Tanya (Angela Featherstone). There's insane coincidence number one. Tanya makes up for the accident by inviting Nathan to stay at their apartment.

The next day Nathan follows Callum through a parking garage, where Callum gets attacked by a couple of muggers. Nathan saves him. They talk afterwards, but Nathan doesn't mention that he's Callum's son. Sensing that Nathan is a desperado, Callum arranges a second meeting where he promises to give Nathan a job. It turns out the job is to kill someone. Callum gives him an envelope that contains all the information he needs.

Of course the target is Sophie, but Callum doesn't say her name, and Nathan never looks inside the envelope. There's insane coincidence number two. Much to the chagrin of his friend Leo (Jaimz Woolvett), Nathan throws the envelope down a sewer drain. Leo surreptitiously retrieves it later.

Let's recap. Sophie and Nathan don't know they're both connected to Callum, even though they're living together due to a serendipitous car accident. Callum hired Nathan to kill Sophie, but Callum still doesn't know that he's Nathan's father, and Nathan doesn't know that Sophie's the target. Leo dug Callum's unopened envelope out of a sewer drain so he could do the job himself, but he doesn't know Nathan is Sophie's roommate.

This train jumped the rails a long time ago, but now it's about to barrel straight off a cliff.

Nathan learns Sophie is the target when he finds a picture of her that came from the envelope. He rushes to her apartment to warn her. Unfortunately, they get into a really stupid argument, and Sophie kicks him out. He pounds on the door, pleading for her to let him inside, never once mentioning the crucial fact that someone is coming to kill her on Callum's orders.

Wait, did I mention that Callum's wife is having an affair with his best friend? Jesus, my head hurts.

I can appreciate a mystery with a labyrinthine plot. James Ellroy, Raymond Chandler, and Agatha Christie are all well inside my wheelhouse. Just give me a premise that doesn't collapse when I set my hat on it.

Nothing else about this movie bothered me as much as the storyline. The cast is mostly okay. Bill Pullman, in particular, excels at playing this kind of nefarious douchebag. (See also The Last Seduction.) Waller's direction is decent. But holy shit, did the script need a doctor.

That ending, though. After an hour and forty-five minutes of hot mess, they somehow managed to stick the landing. Maybe they did hire a script doctor but only paid them to work on the last page.

6 out of 10.

Seen on Tubi.