On February 12, HBO will premiere a TV-movie adaptation of the Cormac McCarthy play The Sunset Limited, co-starring Tommy Lee Jones and Samuel L. Jackson as characters called, respectively, White and Black. While the blue-chip nature of just about everyone in this production may pay off for the full-length movie, the trailer is not promising, playing like some wannabe Coen Brothers remade The Bucket List, or No Exit on the set of The Honeymooners. The plot, insofar as there is a plot and not just language, is that the devout Black rescued the atheist White from diving in front of a train (the perfectly noir-named Sunset Limited), and the two go back to Black’s place to hash it out. The movie takes place there, while the fellas explore existential questions and the meaning of life without much liking each other, while a jaunty soundtrack tries to distract you from the distinct lack of jaunt.
