Yeah...making a 23-year-old's hair a bit fluffier isn't going to convince me she's underage. Ditto for the puffy eye makeup they slathered on when she's supposed to be getting on in years. Woof.
I live in North Carolina, so the references were appreciated, although of course it was all shot in Louisiana because our last governor was an asshole who took away all of the tax incentives.
Crawdads has some good stuff scattered throughout its runtime, especially the early bits involving young Kya, wonderfully played by JoJo Regina. Depicting children in peril is often an innately moving wonder to behold. Edgar-Jones is also a pleasant screen presence and delivers a convincing American accent. Michael Hyatt and Sterling Macer Jr. swoop in as lovable, guardian angel-types in the most stereotypical fashion, but the sweetness of their relationship with Kya provides sharp relief from the hum-drum nature of her squalid existence. Macer Jr. gets the most dramatically moving scene when he's nearly driven to tears while worrying for Kya's safety. Leave it to a supporting player to provide one of the only truly emotional moments in a film that's purportedly chockful of them.
The major problems stem from the melodramatic material and a simple-minded, surface-level approach to relationships, racism, and class status. Complications and conflicts are introduced, then discarded without any further mention, particularly one involving a social services rep who drops in for a scene, then disappears and we never hear from him again.
It's ostensibly better than a Lifetime or Hallmark movie and David Strathairn is always a welcome screen presence, but it refrains from digging deeper into who these people are and what makes them tick, though again, Edgar-Jones is quite good here.
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