EAST OF DENVER

Fleeing Denver, Stacey “Shakespeare” Williams returns to his family’s farm to bury his cat. He finds his dad, Emmett, alone and suffering from premature dementia. It turns out that Emmett has fallen victim to the town’s predatory banker, and his son may be his only hope. With the farm and his father in jeopardy, “Shakespeare” concocts a plan to partner with a basement-dwelling paraplegic and a self-described “fat anorexic” bank teller to rob the bank. Playing each character of this sorry (though oddly affecting) group of robbers, Joseph Collins is at his best as the scene-stealing Emmett. At times, during dialogue-driven scenes, characters are indistinguishable; however, the bulk of the story rests on Shakespeare’s narrative, for which Collins’s understated delivery is good fit. A.S © AudioFile 2012, Portland, Maine [Published: DECEMBER 2012]