Sugar Mountain

“O, what a tangled web we weave…”

Two brothers (Drew Roy and Shane Coffey) and a girl (Haley Webb) in Alaska concoct a survivalist hoax to make easy money, but things don’t go according to plan. Cary Elwes plays the sheriff, the girl’s father, while Jason Momoa is on hand as an intimidating redneck.

"Sugar Mountain" (2016) is a drama/thriller in the mold of “A Perfect Plan” (1998), but with the setting & budget of “Into the Grizzly Maze” (2015) and “Hold the Dark” (2018). Some armchair critics have called the plot ridiculous, but it isn’t; it’s very believable. Look no further than Frederick Cook’s fake 1908 conquest of Mount McKinley (now Denali) or the Colorado “balloon boy” hoax in 2009.

If you like any of those above three movies you’ll like this one. The less I say the better. My title blurb tells all.

Anna Hutchison stands out on the female front, although her role is peripheral. Melora Walters is also on hand; you might remember her as George Costanza’s date in the Seinfeld episode “The Hamptons.” She was also the girl in the notorious kitchen scene in “Cold Mountain” (2003).

The movie runs 1 hour, 46 minutes, and was shot in the Seward, Alaska, region.

GRADE: B+/A-