What’s it about?

A put-upon housewife finds herself enjoying the tabloid spotlight when the residents of her small town think that her dead husband has been kidnapped.

What did we think?

Peter Linning says: With a cast of established character actors and a series of interconnected plotlines, Breaking News in Yuba County desperately wants to evoke the dark comedy stylings of Guy Ritchie or the Coen brothers but falls more than a little flat. The premise is solid enough and gives the movie some early promise, but it quickly loses momentum and struggles to find a tonal balance between crime and comedy.

Creating memorable characters requires more than just bad haircuts and odd clothes, and the limp script doesn’t give the actors enough to work with. With the exception of the excellent Wanda Sykes, most of the performances are downright bad, and the movie completely fails to settle into a consistent tone or hit any of its marks. 4/10