Genre: Dark Comedy/Thriller
Director: Jacob Aaron Estes
Writer: John Malone
Cast: Reese Witherspoon, Sam Rockwell, Kyle Chandler, Jacob Tremblay, Shannon Purser
Plot: Mary Beth Olson (Reese Witherspoon) lives in a McMansion in suburban Nevada, Iowa. Right now she is in her bedroom searching for a missing pearl earring. In the basement, her husband Fred (Kyle Chandler) is meticulously working on his expansive model railroad set. Mary Beth goes downstairs to the living room and confronts their babysitter, Candy (Shannon Purser), asking her if there's anything she wants to admit to. Candy thinks Mary Beth is talking about food she ate. Mary Beth tells her to take the next day off to think about whether or not she has anything she wants to talk to her about. Mary Beth and Fred's son, Harry (Jacob Tremblay) gives Candy a hug on her way out the front door. Harry yells at his mother, telling her that Candy isn't a thief. At dinner, Fred compliments the meat loaf Mary Beth has made. Mary Beth tells him that she used a different kind of mustard this time. Fred tells the family that he has to head over to Omaha for a dental convention in the morning, but he'll just be gone the one night. Later that night, Mary Beth only wants to talk about how she believes Candy stole her pearl earring. Fred is busy packing his bags for Omaha, but wonders aloud that perhaps Mary Beth is being overly dramatic. This annoys Mary Beth, so turns out the light and goes to sleep.
The next day, Mary Beth is at work as the Food Science teacher at Nevada High School. Her class room is like a science lab, but with ovens, stoves, and cooking utensils. Her class mostly consists of blonde haired and blue eyed girls. She has the kids cooking Dutch Babies today. Nancy patrols the classroom. Twenty high schoolers with knives should be a disaster, but somehow she keeps meticulous order. Meanwhile, Dave Cownie (Sam Rockwell) teaches shop class down the hall. At lunch, Mary Beth and Dave sit in the bleachers of the football stadium eating sandwiches. Nancy is explaining the situation with Candy and her missing earring to Dave. They have a flirtatious lunch together, but are careful to not be too intimate. After school, Mary Beth pulls up to the middle school to pick up Harry. When she gets there, Harry asks if he can sleep over at a friend's house. She says sure, and Harry goes off with his friend. Mary Beth returns to a empty house. She orders a pizza and watches a movie. When the movie is over, she looks over at her lone pearl earring and decides to go for a drive.
Mary Beth drives through the deserted streets of Nevada, Iowa, the only car on the road. She drives past a bunch of teenagers hanging out in a strip mall parking lot. She screeches to a halt and reverses back to the teenagers. She gets out of the car and confronts Candy. Nancy demands to see Candy's ears. Candy has five piercings on her ears, but no pearl earring. Mary Beth asks if she has any other piercings, and Candy says she has a belly button ring. Mary Beth pulls up Candy's shirt, revealing a pink rhinestone bellybutton ring - as well as a bright green thong poking out above the top of her jeans. Mary Beth leaves, but not before telling Candy to pull her pants up more.
Mary Beth then drives to the outskirts of town and knocks on Dave's door. Dave is confused to see her at his door at night. She tells Dave that she is frustrated about the earring situation still. He suggests she do a thorough search of her house before making any more accusations against Candy or anyone else. She thanks him for listening to her and leaves. When she gets home, Mary Beth starts her search. She searches the dresser drawers, shaking out all the clothes. In the closet, she searches through a mountain of shoes. She finds an old pair of sexy red pumps. She tries them on, continuing her search. She then starts searching through Fred's things. His things are totally neat and orderly. The only thing out of order in the closet is one pair of a dozen nearly-identical khakis is missing a button. Mary Beth falls asleep while searching under the bed.
In the morning, Mary Beth continues her search downstairs in the living room. She searches through the whole downstairs, but doesn't find anything. She then heads back upstairs and goes into Harry's room. On his dresser is a handmade wooden treasure box, locked using a cheapo diary lock. Mary Beth unlocks the chest with her fingernail and pops it open. She doesn't find anything of note inside, just old baseball cards and candy. Just as she's about to close it, she notices there is a false bottom. She pries it open and finds a stack of Victoria's Secret catalogs and a bright green thong. Just like Candy's. She removes the panties with rubber gloves and places them in a zip-lock bag. Mary Beth has searched the entire house - except for the garage. She steps into the garage, something she doesn't often do. The garage is very neat and orderly, with most of the space occupied by Fred's intricate railroad set. She circumnavigates the railroad track, noticing the insane amount of detail put into the houses that Fred has crafted around the set. She looks underneath the work benches. All of the boxes are dusty except for one jammed into the back corner. Just as she's working it out from under the bench, Harry startles her, telling her that Dad says she's not allowed in there.
That Sunday, the family goes to church. Fred plays the church organ while the pastor addresses the congregation. On the drive home, Fred tells Mary Beth and Harry that he's going to start constructing a new house on his railroad set, a house with cedar shingles. He's clearly passionate about the subject, but Mary Beth and Harry are bored with the conversation. That night, Harry watches in the garage as Fred starts constructing the new house. He tells Harry that it is the most fun part since he can make up a story about the person who lives in the house and direct their whole life, like making your own movie, but even better.
Mary Beth vacuums the hallway, when she hears something rattle into it. Hoping it's her earring, she dumps the bag out onto the floor, but it's just Fred's missing khaki button. She then re-vacuums up the dirt and lint on the floor. Mary Beth goes upstairs and sews the button back on Fred's pants. As she does, she feels something in the pocket. It's a wad of paper that's been through the laundry. Fred announces from downstairs that he and Harry are heading out to get some glue and will be back soon. As soon as they leave, Mary Beth sneaks into the garage and pulls out the dust-free box. She opens it. Inside are twenty packs of unopened Polaroid film. She hears a car pull back into the driveway and quickly replaces the box and slips out of the garage. Back upstairs, she pulls at the paper wad from Fred's pants. She manages to make out that one of the pieces of paper is a parking ticket from Madison, Wisconsin. She puts the pieces of the ticket in her pocket. She then puts them in her purse with the zip-lock bag of Candy's panties.
That afternoon, Mary Beth and Dave meet up outside of the Iowa Corn Museum where they walk through a corn maze. While they are walking and chatting, Mary Beth blurts out that she thinks Fred is having an affair. She says that Fred has never told about going to Madison, Wisconsin before, and that on the day of the ticket he had told her he was at a dental conference in Fort Wayne, Indiana. She then tells him that she looked through all of their credit card and bank accounts and can't find any record of the ticket being paid, which means that if he did pay it then he must have secret credit cards somewhere. She then tells him about the Polaroid film she found, insisting that they don't even own a Polaroid camera and never have. She asks Dave if she thinks maybe Fred is going to too many conferences for a dentist. Dave says that he wouldn't know since he doesn't know any dentists.
That night, Fred tells Mary Beth that the conference people in Omaha want him back out there next week to help instruct a three-day training seminar on the latest dental technology. Mary Beth gets up, annoyed, and starts doing the dishes. Before bed, Fred apologizes to Mary Beth and says that if the conference is a problem for her that he'll ask them to find someone else. Mary Beth then tells Fred about the pair of Candy's underwear she found in Harry's room. She tosses the zip-lock bag at him and he starts laughing. She asks him to talk to Harry, but he insists that Harry is a good kid and there's nothing to worry about. That night while Fred is asleep, Mary Beth takes one more look at the box in the garage and notices a postmark indicating that the box was shipped to Fred's office.
The next day, Mary Beth and Dave meet at a local diner filled with truckers. Mary Beth tells Dave about the box having been shipped to Fred's office and tells him that they are going to break in. They drive past his office slowly. Dave points out that the building has an alarm system. She then pulls into the parking lot behind the building and points out that one of the windows isn't barred, the bathroom window. She asks him to make a dental appointment, so that he can go to the bathroom and rig the window so that it will only seem to be locked when it is closed. Dave tells her that she sounds crazy. Just then, Fred comes out the back door. They watch as he gets into his car and drives off. Dave realizes that Mary Beth has been squeezing his hand. Dave considers for a long beat and agrees to make an appointment.
After school, Dave builds a little jig that screws into a window frame that keeps the window from locking. Dave waits nervously in the waiting room of Fred's dental office. Fred comes out and calls him in. In the exam room, Fred sits uncomfortably close to Dave as he checks out his teeth. Fred says that Dave must know his wife Mary Beth based on the school district health insurance. Dave gets very nervous. After the exam, Fred tells Dave that his teeth are in good shape. Dave asks to use the resroom. On his way to the restroom, Dave notices a cop talking to the receptionist. As he is putting the jig onto the window frame, he accidentally drops it out the window. Someone starts to knock at the bathroom door. Dave begins to panic. A voice from outside the bathroom asks what Dave is doing in there. Dave ends up getting some wet toilet paper and covering the window latch with it. When Dave opens the door, the cop is standing there. The cop pushes past him real quick to use the toilet.
Mary Beth is sitting in her car parked in the Wal-Mart parking lot. She touches up her red lipstick. Dave looks around and enters the car. He tells her he is out of the plan, claiming he has a date that night so they have to call it off. He then tells her about the cop at the office that freaked him out, and tells her that he has a criminal record and doesn't want to risk anything. In high school, he and some friends went for a joyride in a stolen car, and his friends ran faster than he did. She tells him that she understands and wishes him luck on his boring date. Dave then reveals he doesn't really have a date, just wanted a decent excuse. She tells him that with or without him, she's going into Fred's office, and asks him to show her one thing. In the door aisle Home Depot, Dave teaches Mary Beth how to use a credit card to pick a door lock. They look for a door similar to the one at Fred's office and go to work at it. He demonstrates, unlocking the door with ease, before handing the card over to her. She struggles at first, but Dave comes up behind her and puts his hand over hers. When she hears the click of the door unlocking, she turns to Dave - and then, they kiss. When they leave the store, Dave follows Mary Beth to her car, telling her that he has decided to come along, but just as a lookout.They pull into the empty back parking lot of the dental office. Dave wishes her luck and gives her a boost through the bathroom window, telling her he'll keep a lookout. Meanwhile, Fred and Harry are out to eat at a local Mexican restaurant digging into chimichangas when Fred's cell phone rings. It's a client who needs an emergency dental procedure. Fred tells the patient to meet him at the office.
Mary Beth is in Fred's office trying to open the safe. First she tries their anniversary as the combination, but that doesn't open it. Then she tries Harry's birthday, which opens it with a click. Inside are a bunch of envelopes and a couple archival boxes. A car pulls into the parking lot outside. Inside one of the envelopes are credit cards in Fred's name. She starts taking pictures of them. Dave tries calling Mary Beth, but she doesn't notice that she disconnected the call while taking pictures. Next, Mary Beth pulls out a box full of Polaroid pictures of houses. She recognizes the houses from Fred's train set, but some of the pictures are of the inside. There are hundreds of pictures, all of houses, except for one of a blonde girl. Out front, Fred starts unlocking the building. Dave calls one more time, and Mary Beth answers. Dave tells her to get out now. Mary Beth stuffs a few photos in her pocket, shoves the rest back in the safe and rushes toward the hall. Just then, the hallway lights go on. Mary Beth ducks back into the office, shutting herself in. She locks the door.
Dave heads outside of the small transom window high up on the wall of Fred's office. As Fred is washing up before looking at the client's teeth he hears a noise coming from the office. Mary Beth is climbing up a bookcase, trying to get through the small, high window. She gets her head through when she hears Fred try to open the door. Mary Beth squeezes through the window, falling down on top of Dave outside, just as Fred unlocks the door. Unbeknownst to Mary Beth, a charm from her bracelet fell off while getting through the window. Fred turns the light on to find his office empty and nothing out of place. Back at Dave's house, Dave and Mary Beth have sex on his couch. As Fred is closing up for the night, he spots the charm on the floor and picks it up.
When Mary Beth gets home she sits on the couch and reaches into the couch cushions and finds her missing pearl earring.Thinking Mary Beth is having an affair, Fred gives it back to her before bed that night. He tells her that he isn't going to ask how it got in his office, just that he wants things to go back to how they were. Mary Beth agrees.
Everything is seemingly back to normal for Mary Beth and her family. She puts the pearl earrings back in her jewelry box. The family attends church together, but Mary Beth is clearly not as happy as Fred, or anyone else in the church for that matter. Back at the school, Mary Beth eats lunch with the other female teachers, while Dave eats alone in his classroom.
Dave and Mary Beth meet up at a motel off the highway. They get a room, and just as they're about to have sex - Mary Beth starts to cry. They end up just talking instead. Mary Beth tells Dave that she is willing to leave Fred for him, but Dave says it should be for her not for him. Dave, thinking that Mary Beth needs to not be at fault, suggests that he can follow Fred on his next business trip and catch him with another woman.
The next day, Dave follows Fred to the train station and gets a ticket on the same train. He follows him off the train in Omaha and to a car rental kiosk. Fred rents a car and leaves. Dave hurriedly rents a car himself and sets out to figure out which hotel Fred went to. Dave sits in the car and calls every hotel within 10 miles asking to speak to Fred Olson, until he finally is connected. Dave then heads to that hotel and waits in the parking lot.
Eventually Fred leaves the hotel. Dave follows him first to a hardware store, then to a clothing store. Fred goes into a restaurant and eats by himself. Dave tries to get a look at the bags in Fred's car, but can't make out any of the items. Dave follows Fred back into the hotel where he sees a sign for the dental convention. Fred starts drinking Appletinis at the hotel bar. Dave hides at the other end. Fred gets up and walks over to Dave and asks if he knows him from somewhere. Dave says they were on the same train earlier. They end up having a drink together. They exchange standard chit-chat, and Fred excuses himself to his room for the night after one drink.
In the morning, Dave knocks at Fred's door. When nobody answers, Dave jimmies the door open. He searches through the plastic bags of Fred's purchases, finding: electrical wire, leather gloves, a black duffel bag, some pillowcases, fishing line and a fishing knife, and of all things, dog treats. Dave gets into his car in the parking lot and watches Fred talk to some of the other dentists from the conference. Fred finally leaves the group and gets in his car. Dave follows.
With Fred and Dave both out of town, and Harry at a friend's house, Mary Beth decides to take a look at Fred's Polaroids again. She notices a street sign in the background of the picture of the blonde woman. Mary Beth compares the house and street in the background to those in Fred's train set until she finds a match. Mary Beth then looks through Fred's house design book and finds a date for the house's design. She then searches the internet using the street address and year and discovers that a woman who lived in the house Fred used as a design inspiration went missing that year and that she is presumed dead. She finds a picture of that woman, and it's the same woman from Fred's Polaroid.
Dave follows Fred along a quiet road. Fred eventually pulls over and approaches a house as a bunch of dogs run in the yard. Fred pats them and scatters treats on the lawn. A woman opens the front door. Dave starts taking pictures, thinking he's caught Fred in his affair.
Mary Beth continues her research, discovering that they suspect the woman in the picture was killed by an at-large serial killer suspected of killing women throughout the Midwest. When she looks at the list of the killer's suspected victims, Mary Beth notices that they all lived in places Fred has gone for business. Worried, Mary Beth tries to call Dave, but there's no answer.
Dave sneaks past the dogs and into the house. Dave sneaks toward the bedroom where he hears sounds that sound like sex. Dave gets his camera ready, but is stunned to find that Fred is not having sex with the woman, but rather sawing off her head with the fishing knife. Fred spots Dave's reflection in the window. Dave picks up a wooden giraffe statue and swings it at Fred, just as Fred lunges at Dave with the knife. The roll into the living room. Fred bites Dave in the shoulder. Dave manages to stab Fred with his own knife. Dave runs into the kitchen and grabs a butcher's knife. Fred gets up and runs out of the house and into nearby woods. Dave worries that the police will connect the dots from Fred to Mary Beth and himself and cleans up the crime scene. Assuming Fred is dead by now, Dave leaves Fred's rental car in a parking lot and heads back for Nevada.
Mary Beth has matched every single house in Fred's train set to the home of a missing or murdered woman. She then realizes that the houses he builds are his trophies. Mary Beth, realizing now that Fred is a serial killer, tells Harry to pack a bag of clothes. She then gets a call from Dave, who tells her what he saw. Dave heads to Mary Beth's house. He tells her that Fred is still alive and promised to leave them alone, otherwise they would give the police evidence against him. The phone at the house rings, it's the car rental company thanking Fred for dropping the car off and asking if he needs a receipt. Dave goes cold and drops the phone. Dave goes to Wal-Mart and buys a handgun and some ammo. He then installs new locks throughout the exterior of Mary Beth's house. Harry comes back from his friend's house and tells Mary Beth that he saw his dad a few blocks away.
That night Dave sits guard in the living room of the house. He falls asleep, and when he wakes up he hears the model train running. He goes into the garage, but only finds Harry playing with the trains. Harry tells Dave he misses his dad, before going back to bed. Dave then notices that there is a new house on the set, the one that he caught Fred at. There's a car parked in front of it, one just like Dave's rental car. There's also a tiny man sitting inside with a camera, dressed just like Dave. Dave insists that they all go to a motel. Dave finally reveals to Mary Beth that he tried to kill Fred when he caught him, not blackmail him into leaving them alone. She suggests they all go to Canada to hide out from Fred. Dave volunteers to go back to the house to get their passports. Dave heads back to Mary Beth's house and finds the passports. Dave checks the garage and notices yet another new building on the train set. The motel Mary Beth and Harry are at.
Dave races back to the motel and finds a tracking device on Mary Beth's car. He destroys it. As Dave knocks on the door to Mary Beth's room, he notices Fred watching from his car. He breaks down the door, but Mary Beth thinks it's Fred and smashes a lamp over his head. She then sees Fred get out of his car and walk to the room. Mary Beth grabs Dave's gun and shoots Fred several times, killing him. She then calls 911 to get an ambulance for Dave, riding along with him to the hospital for the head wound she gave him.
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