Ray McKinnon has been one of my favorite “that guy” actors since I first saw him punch George Clooney in the face in O Brother. Since then, it’s always been great to see him pop up from time to time, most notably in Deadwood. Over the years, I’ve looked up his IMDb when I see him in something and when I come across the “Won 1 Oscar” part of his bio it always stops me. Did he win an Oscar for The Blind Side, and I just erased it from my memory? Nope, it was a short film he made with his wife, the late Lisa Blount, and former “that guy” and current big deal Walton Goggins. With the new blu-ray release of The Accountant and McKinnon’s southern crime comedy Randy & the Mob, I finally got to check out why he won that Oscar.
The Accountant on its own is worth checking out and writing about, but there are so many connections and similarities with Randy that it just makes sense to cover both. The Accountant is about two brothers (Eddie King and Walton Goggins) trying to save the family farm. Goggins brings in the titular accountant (McKinnon) to solve their financial problems. The premise itself is fairly commonplace in southern pop culture. There’s always a farm that has been lost or is in danger of being lost, etc. What makes The Accountant stand out is its dissection of what it means to be southern and the quirkiness of the accountant.
First, the quirkiness. The accountant does plenty of weird shit, like stomping to count everything and chugging whatever beer is available (imports will do but he prefers PBR), but that alone doesn’t make a character. He has moments in which he turns into an angry southern robot, having to yell to get through to the brothers. It’s truly one of McKinnon’s best performances.
McKinnon shines the most when philosophizing about the southern way of life and how corporations are ruining it to the point that future generations will “eat cornbread that’s sweet and drink iced tea that’s not and think it’s tradition!” He rails against “real” people in entertainment like Billy Bob Thornton (a kind of in-joke as this and Randy are clearly influenced by Sling Blade, and McKinnon would go on to direct Thornton in Chrystal), that can’t be real country if they’re allowed to make films and whatnot.
That is the accountant’s mission statement: save the southern way of life one farm at a time. Even if it means someone has to be maimed, or a pet needs to die, or a spouse needs to be murdered.
Viewed from today’s lens it comes close to coming across as a little too Jan. 6, but you can’t take it too seriously when one of the primary culprits in the conspiracy to bring down the south is Boston Market (I suppose Boston Market’s capacity for evil made more sense to fear back in 2001 [things truly were better back then]).
Despite that little conspiracy hiccup (which the film doesn’t exactly endorse anyway), it’s easy to see how The Accountant won an Oscar and helped McKinnon get his foot into the door of Hollywood. He took an overused premise and injected a truly original character into it and made the whole thing fresh and interesting when stories like this are typically drab and boring.
At first glance, it doesn’t seem like Randy & the Mob would have much in common with The Accountant beyond sharing the same actors and filmmakers. It’s about Randy (McKinnon), an average dickhead who wants people to like him but fails to see that’s exactly why people don’t. He gets into ridiculous financial trouble trying to appear to be a businessman, he shuns his gay twin so people don’t question his sexuality, he belittles his son for wanting to play soccer, he ignores his clearly depressed wife, etc. Randy fucking sucks.
But then Walton Goggins shows up as a kind of version of the accountant, and the ease with which he becomes universally beloved finally wakes Randy up. Goggins is essentially playing a friendlier version of Carl from Sling Blade, but he still shares a violent past.
If this sounds messy and all over the place, it’s because it is. I watched Randy twice and it grew on me, but I couldn’t help but wish that The Accountant had been feature length while Randy was given the short film treatment. But something said in the archival making-of documentary turned me around on Randy a bit. In it, McKinnon claims that the film is an attempt to take a subculture usually reduced to caricature, and show real people. In that regard, he is successful. This is a southern film that isn’t taking cheap shots at accents and redneck bullshit. It’s about good and bad people just getting by in a nondescript small town. As someone currently living that life, I can appreciate that. It doesn’t make for a completely entertaining film, but it’s still commendable.
And that’s the true connection to The Accountant. It’s as if McKinnon is heeding the advice of his own character. Don’t preserve the south by catering to cliches and cartoonish nonsense. Show real characters, even if it makes the movie less palatable.
Special Features and Transfer
Both discs look great. And that’s worth the purchase alone if you like either of these films, especially The Accountant. These movies are easy to find online, but the quality is iffy, especially for The Accountant. As for the special features, there aren’t any for the individual release of The Accountant. But Randy has that making-of doc, and…The Accountant is included as a special feature. It seems like a no-brainer to just buy Randy, but The Accountant alone is cheaper. So it’s nice to have that option.
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