Olivia Newman’s Where the Crawdad’s Sing is undeniably compelling but ultimately unconvincing. There is also the issue that it’s more than a bit of a tonal mess. You see, the movie plays out 3 different stories, each with differing results. There’s the rather hokey murder mystery and subsequent court case, the unflinching family drama, and the melodramatic love story. And with an abundance of flashbacks and an eventual time jump, it ends up being a jarring bit of unevenness. Bad “flow” aside, the film does boast some decent performances, primarily Daisy Edgar-Jones as the beautiful “marsh girl,” Kya. There was also some genuine chemistry amongst her onscreen love interests Taylor John Smith and Harris Dickinson. Despite some soap-opera level dialogue, they all put their best foot forward. The film also serves up a few visual delights, you know, with all the North Carolina marsh scenery. But, it’s easy to see how this all works better in paper form. The on-page descriptions and character depth is much more effective, whereas this on-screen version takes a lot of the “bite” out of things. It’s not completely hollow, but the result is just OK. And for some, that will be enough. For others, it will be a major disappointment. We can all likely agree that the Taylor Swift end credit song, Carolina, is pretty great though. Hey, that’s something, at least!