Sword of Trust
Director: Lynn Shelton
Year Released: 2019
Rating: 2.0
Down in Alabama, Cynthia (Jillian Bell) - along with partner Mary (Michaela Watkins) - learns her recently deceased grandfather left her, instead of his house (the bank owns that), a controversial Union Army sword and documentation that "proves" that the South won the Civil War so she takes it to pawn broker Mel (Marc Maron) and his assistant Nathaniel (Jon Boss) to arrange a sale of it to some White Supremacists. I sort-of like the relaxed tone it starts with - Maron is a soothing presence, even after being threatened by a goon with a screwdriver - but it kind of downplays how truly frightening actual racists are and the Golly Gee Whiz nature of it leads to a lame ending in which Cynthia has second thoughts and the neo-Nazi 'mastermind' (Dan Bakkedahl) turns out to be an 'all right' feller after all (life sure is weird is weird and stuff, huh Pa?). It can make light of them all it wants, but conspiracy theorists are really adamant about what they "believe." There are, after all, people who unironically believe the Earth is flat.