Things take a shocking turn when the dining room is transformed into a minefield of political and personal danger where the characters come under threats of guns and violence.

[3] The previous years' economic chaos informed the script: "At the same time, this is a narrative and dramatic film, not a political soap box.

"[6] In terms of aesthetics, DeCarlo kept in mind the words "lurid" and "elegant" in mind in preparation for Two Hands to Mouth: for visual inspiration, he and cinematographer Steve Cosens drew on the paintings of Francis Bacon, DeCarlo also citing Sidney Lumet, Luis Buñuel, Sam Peckinpah and Quentin Tarantino as cinematic inspirations: "I was aware of the cinematic tradition of violence".

[11] Dave Hodge composed an original score for Two Hands to Mouth, pleased enough with the results that he hoped to create a new musical project based on a few of the pieces.

In early 2013, in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, he ran into Leah Siegel and asked if she was interested in collaborating on the project, and after a few months of writing, recording, and mixing, Hodge and Siegel decided to form the band Leisure Cruise, resulting in the release of their self-titled debut album in May 2014,[12][13] an album which incorporated two tracks from Two Hands to Mouth.

[15] Adam Nayman describes the film's singular setting as "a sort of bare existential space", a "Sartrean" dinner party, and "easily one of the most distinctive-looking Canadian first features in recent memory", with "strong, dynamic compositions and boldly colour-coded lighting to bolster the underlying (and at times overwhelming) sense of claustrophobia and mania.

"[6] The ensemble cast is "a vivid gallery of faces familiar from Canadian film and television", but for Nayman, the "star turn", belongs to "that old pro Art Hindle, who slips into the skin of a well-moneyed creep with serpentine finesse.