99 Homes

click to enlarge

Andrew Garfield and Michael Shannon in 99 Homes

Michael Shannon can do no wrong. The Academy Award nominee (Supporting Actor for Revolutionary Road) and Lexington, Ky. native may play deeply flawed men — and some like Rick Carver in 99 Homes step over the divide and gleefully dance with the devil — but Shannon always grants such evil men a recognizably human face. In Ramin Bahrani’s film, he wanders into Michael Douglas Wall Street territory, as a greed-is-good real estate broker who seduces a struggling young father (Andrew Garfield), recently evicted from his home, to join him in the business of snatching homes from others. Apparently Shannon giveth and taketh, and nothing can stop him (or make him any less watchable). (Opens Friday at Esquire Theatre) — tts (R) Not screened in time for review