After serving twelve years for armed robbery, poor Jimmy (Jason Sudeikis) just wants to get his life on track. To complicate matters, his fiancé, Annie (Evangeline Lilly), is dying of lung cancer. There’s plenty at stake in director Aharon Keshales’ South of Heaven and a lot of things that go wrong in Jimmy’s life, muddling his honest attempts to lead a good life.

Try as he may, Jimmy can’t just live a normal life, working a grueling job in Texas, while saving to marry his finance, who has no more than a year to live. Jimmy’s parole officer, Schmidt (Shea Whigham), is as crooked as they come. He runs a drug ring and threatens to plant drugs on Jimmy if he doesn’t serve as an errand boy.  Jimmy’s woes only deepen after he accidentally kills a carrier for a mob boss Whit Price, played by Mike Colter. Yes, there’s a lot that happens in this film’s two-hour run time, but the point is that Jimmy may plan to live his life one way, as honestly as possible, but he continually gets entangled in forces beyond his control.

To worsen matters, Whit kidnaps Annie after Jimmy accidentally kills his carrier, who was delivering $500,000, mind you. He won’t return her until Jimmy delivers the money. Jimmy, however, doesn’t know what happened to the cash, so he kidnaps Whit’s son, the sharp-tongued and devilishly funny Tommy (Thaddeus J. Mixson). Just when you think Jimmy’s life really can’t get any worse, it does.

Despite all the crime drama, the relationship between Annie and Jimmy is the real meat and heart of the story, considering these characters have such limited time together. Both Lilly and Sudeikis give earnest performances. There are plenty of tender moments between their characters that stop just short of being totally gooey and sentimental. Sudeikis especially deserves accolades for his performance as an everyman-type character trying so hard to live a decent life. I still think of his outlandish performances as then (Vice) President Biden on SNL, so seeing him take on such a serious role is a neat change to behold.

The villains, Schmidt and Whit, also carry the film. These are men who rarely raise their voice but are uber intimidating. Schmidt, never without a cowboy hat, oozes corruption. Whit, meanwhile, is a complex, widowed mob boss who loves his son and bonds with Annie, oddly enough. In fact, one conversation they have about her cancer and his wife is one of the film’s strongest scenes. Though he’s often flanked by stereotypical thugs, including one who wears a gold necklace, Whit is no cliché villain, and Colter delights in whatever role he plays.

Once Annie and Jimmy flee to Mexico, the film drags a bit and takes one or two turns that are a bit too over the top. It would have been a bit stronger if trimmed slightly. Overall, though, South of Heaven is an engrossing drama, with strong performances all around, especially by Lilly, Colter, and Sudeikis. It’s a reminder that while you may plan to live your life a certain way, unexpected forces can throw you off course.

8 Out of 10