A contest leads to wits and mind games in this drama from director Bastian Günther.

In a small town in Texas, a contest from local auto dealer Boudreaux is about to commence. The contest involves a group of people putting their hands on a truck and the last one standing will win the truck. For Kyle Parsons, it’s about making life a bit better for himself and his family. However, the competition is really hot as there are many people wanting to get the truck for various reasons.

As the competition goes on, Joan Dempsey has fun with the contest but slowly begins to see how much the contest takes its toll on the contestants. As some of the contestants begin to play mind games with each other, they start letting go of the truck and thus, losing their chance. Kyle is determined to make sure he wins the competition, one way or another. But what would happen if he fails?

This is quite an idea for a movie and writer-director Bastian Günther clearly had a vision in mind. The film feels like a mixed bag. The pros include some really good performances from the cast and the tension that occurs throughout a good portion of the film. However, the cons include the fact that it’s overrun and the last act doesn’t exactly make sense considering what happens and a hour and 35 minute mark.

Carrie Preston and Joe Cole are the core of the film in the roles of Joan and Kyle respectively. We get to see both points of view from the sponsors and the competitors. It’s quite an interesting juxtaposition as we see Joan, who at first is having fun seeing the contest only to see the true colors and mind games come out and begins to feel a little remorseful. As for Cole, who proved his mettle as an actor with films like Offender and A Prayer Before Dawn, the British actor actually pulls off a worthy performance as a Texas white collar man who wants to make a better life for his family.

The only major con of the film is that in a film that runs two hours, the final 25 minutes of the film are one long flashback sequence that would have worked better in the opening of the film. It ends up becoming somewhat pointless to bring this scene in the end because it somewhat messes up the pacing of the film. In essence, it would have been better to either put this sequence in the beginning or even cut it completely and left it at 95 minutes. Although there is one bit of the film they could keep in the flashback sequence where it looks like the truck is actually talking through its headlights. Pretty funny in a way.

One of These Days is ultimately a mixed bag. It could have done better with cutting the long flashback at the end or putting it in the opening to keep the pacing going. However, Carrie Preston and Joe Cole save the film with their excellent performances.

WFG RATING: C+

Gravitas Ventures present a Flare Film production in association with Green Elephant Films. Director: Bastian Günther. Producers: Martin Heist;r and Peter Veverka. Writer: Bastian Günther. Cinematography: Michael Kotschi. Editing: Anne Fabini.

Cast: Carrie Preston, Joe Cole, Callie Hernandez, Cullen Moss, Devyn A. Tyler, Jesse C. Boyd, Billy Slaughter, Lucy Faust, Lynne Ashe, Amy Le, Lara Grice, Ritchie Montgomery.

The film will be released in select theaters, VOD, and Digital on April 14.