Above Suspicion [Includes Digital Copy] [Blu-ray]

Director: Phillip Noyce Phillip Noyce

Overview

Emilia Clarke, Jack Huston and Sophie Lowe star in director Phillip Noyce's adaptation of Joe Sharkey's 1993 nonfiction book of the same name. A rookie FBI agent becomes romantically involved with one of his informants after being assigned to the crime-ridden Appalachian coal town of Pikeville, Kentucky. Their illicit and tumultuous affair led to her murder ? and his historic status as the only known FBI agent to confess to murder.

Product Details

Release Date:	05/18/2021
UPC:	0031398326410
Original Release:	2019
Source:	Lions Gate
Language:	English
Time:	1:44:00
Sales rank:	30,909

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Emilia Clarke	Susan Smith
Jack Huston	Mark
Sophie Lowe	Kathy Putnam
Johnny Knoxville	Cash
Austin Hébert	Randy McCoy
Karl Glusman	Joe-Bea
Kevin Dunn	Bob Singer
Brian Lee Franklin	Rufus
Omar Benson Miller	Denver Rhodes
Chris Mulkey	Todd Eason
Brittany O'Grady	Georgia Beale
Luke Spencer Roberts	Bones
Lex Kelli	Susan's Daughter
Landon Durrence	Susan's Son
Nettie Kraft	Joe B.'s Mother(as Nettie Mae Kraft)
Taxo Michaels	Bumpy
Joshua Mikel	Ricky
Katie Campbell	Bank Teller
Daniel R. Hill	Stan Jones
Jim Klock	FBI Lawyer
Louie Lawless	Court Clerk
Lance E. Nichols	Agent Baumgarten
Valerie Payton	Counter Woman
Frank Hoyt Taylor	Matt Boylan
Robert C. Treveiler	Murph(as Robert Treveiler)
Claire Lawrence	Mark and Cathy's Daughter
Brian Leedy	Bank Officer
Patrick Alred	Courtroom Spectator
Kathlene Ashcraft	Courtroom Spectator
Lea Hutton Beasmore	Stenographer
Austin Hebert	Randy McCoy
Omar Miller	Denver Rhodes
Thora Birch	Jolene
Dickon Hinchliffe	Composer

Technical Credits

Chris Gerolmo

Joe Sharkey

Chris Gerolmo	Screenwriter,Executive Producer
Joe Sharkey	Screenwriter
Phillip Noyce	Director
Linda Bruckheimer	Executive Producer,Producer
Michel Litvak	Executive Producer,Producer
Gary Michael Walters	Executive Producer,Producer
Bob Yari	Executive Producer,Producer
Amy Adelson	Producer
Mohamed AlRafi	Producer
Angela Amato	Producer
Colleen Camp	Producer,Producer
Tim Degraye	Producer
Kathleen McLaughlin	Producer
Samy Burch	Casting,Casting
Andrew Spencer Dawson	Sound Editor
Mary DeVenney	Sound Mixer
Richard Schexnayder	Sound Mixer

Editorial Reviews

Writer Chris Gerolmo (Mississippi Burning) takes Joe Sharkey's true-crime book Above Suspicion and puts it into the hands of director Phillip Noyce (Salt). He turns it into a thriller that is still worth watching despite some depressing moments with a rather abrupt ending. Susan Smith (Emilia Clarke) has spent her entire life in Pikesville, KY. Like most people that feel trapped in a small, rural town, she longs for a way to escape. For her, the life with two children while living in the same house as her drug-dealing ex-husband whose customers come in and out nightly is more existence than anything else. So she jumps at the chance to turn over information to the FBI in exchange for a way out. But what started as a dream becomes a nightmare for both Susan and FBI agent Mark Putnam (Jack Huston) when they fall into a sexual relationship. After he transfers, things go from bad to worse, quickly accelerating from rage to murder. The story is engaging for its type and rendered well throughout most of the film. Although a vivid picture is painted of the characters and situations as they evolve, Gerolmo might have taken some exceptions in the timelines and events to make the story a bit more intense. This doesn't play to the tale's detriment, though. Sadly, the ending seems a bit rushed against the backdrop of a solidly woven script, as though the final moments do not deserve as much attention or accuracy as the events that led to them. Noyce uses the dark, depressing locations in the film to great advantage, making sure the audience is painfully aware of what a dreary life most of the characters live. There is no question as to why Susan would want to escape an endless cycle of addiction and abuse. Clarke's exceptional portrayal of a woman plotting her way out of what she sees as a dead-end enhances this. Johnny Knoxville, in the rare serious role of Susan's ex-husband Cash, adds to the mix of depression and a complete lack of hope, outside of a miracle. Despite the performances, including Huston's initially squeaky-clean agent, there isn't any sympathy that develops for anyone. This is likely the intent because there isn't a character here deserving of it. In addition to stellar direction and performances, the settings and nearly constant small musical pieces make it abundantly clear - this was a dead-end life in what Susan saw as a dead-end town surrounded by dead-end people. Above Suspicion takes a true-life case that rocked the FBI to its core and led to the first conviction of an agent for murder and makes it essentially interesting. It isn't a perfect film, but as a true-crime tale, it is above average.