McCanick

McCanick is a 2013 American crime-drama mystery film directed by Josh C. Waller, written by Daniel Noah, and starring David Morse, Mike Vogel, Trevor Morgan, Ciarán Hinds, and Cory Monteith.

Eugene "Mack" McCanick (David Morse) is a detective who, along with partner Floyd Intrator (Mike Vogel), hunts down a young criminal named Simon Weeks (Cory Monteith) who was just released from prison.

"[5] Paste contributor Geoff Berkshire criticized Noah and Waller's "narrative contortions" from keeping viewers invested in Morse's title character and the plot coming across like a "woefully thin" rip-off of The French Connection, saying "this initially rote and ultimately ridiculous cop-on-the-edge drama suffers from too many creative missteps.

"[6] Justin Lowe from The Hollywood Reporter also found criticism in the storytelling and filmmaking, writing that Noah "recycles predictable narrative elements [almost] to the point of meaningless and [then] substitutes wildly improbable developments in place of actual originality" and Waller's directing style "drain most of the drama from key scenes.

[10] Variety's Andrew Barker also lauded praise to Monteith for giving a "very solid, professional" delivery of a "basic, straightforward" role and highlighted both Hinds and Morse's performances as well, but criticized the film overall for being a "drably derivative, infuriatingly improbable police drama.