The Legacy of a Whitetail Deer Hunter | Film Review

The hunter Buck Ferguson did what anyone would love to do; he turned his passion in life into a lucrative way of providing for his family. Unfortunately for him, his hunting  morphed into an obsession and his wife asked for a divorce. Two years later Buck, with the aid of his trusty cameraman Don, takes his 12 year-old son Jaden on an epic father-son bonding hunting trip. Which is of course where everything goes wrong.  

The Legacy of a Whitetail Deer Hunter is a very simple story with very rudimentary elements that we have seen multiple times before, with a bit of a twist in that the characters we are spending time with are hard to like. None of this is particularly surprising when the story is brought to us from Jody Hill, Danny Mcbride, and John Carcieri. This is the team that brought us The Foot Fist Way, Your Highness, Observe and Report, Eastbound and Down, and more with the unifying element of a hard-to-like protagonist. The only difference here is that it’s clear that they want you to care about the train wreck this father and son are living through, but by the point in time where everything turns around for them, you have given up on them almost entirely.

This movie, because I refuse to type “The Legacy of a Whitetail Deer Hunter” more than is necessary, is another one of those movies that remind me that I need to find more excuses to go outside and get into the wilderness. The filming locations are top notch, and serve as a wonderful backdrop and contrast to the characters we have on the screen. Segments from Buck’s show are laced throughout the movie, looking very much like what you would expect from a show produced on a shoestring budget. TLOAWDH (HA! I figured out how I’ll get around typing it all out and it just naturally rolls off the tongue) sticks to the basics of production and does so with competence in execution. Take a couple of people, shoot them in the woods, do so simply and then maybe people will at least give you credit for that.

Josh Brolin plays Buck, and he is probably the furthest thing from anything Josh has played before. The charm, the charisma he normally carries in his roles just isn’t there. To his credit he feels more like a real person, flawed in just about every way. But that’s not a compliment. Montana Jordan is Jaden, Bucks son, and is exactly as flawed and lacking in charm as his father. Here’s the hard part, Danny McBride…is the most likable thing on the screen. Weird, right? He plays Don, Buck’s faithful cameraman who’s often put in peril to get the shot that makes Buck look like a hero. He’s funny and entertaining on screen, and often serves as the voice of reason for father and son, even if he himself is a bit of a train wreck too. Unfortunately, McBride’s Don isn’t enough to keep you interested in whats going on between Buck and Jaden within the story. It’s just increasingly difficult to summon a care.

The Legacy of a Whitetail Deer Hunter (this time I just copy and paste it) is a hard movie to put a finger on. Sure, you want to see a father and son connect in a family tradition, but they are a-holes. The actors seem to be making choices that, in a brilliant way, makes them feel more like real people, but they are a-holes. Everything is shot in this lush and lovely countryside that makes one want to go on adventures of their own, but they are A-HOLES! You can see where I am going with this can’t you?

Ultimately, what we are seeing here is a creative team lining up a shot with nearly everything in their favor, but they ended up pulling the trigger at just the wrong moment. We need to want to see them succeed for this movie to work, unfortunately this Deer Hunter doesn’t quite hit the target.