Echo Valley (2025) review

Still depressed from the accidental death of her wife Patty (Kristina Valada-Viars), farm worker Kate (Julianne Moore) is also experiencing difficulties paying the bills, and then she receives a surprise visit from her estranged daughter (and heroin user) Claire (Sydney Sweeney) and her boyfriend Ryan (Edmund Donovan), and both of them are in serious trouble with ruthless drug dealer Jackie Lyman (Domhnall Gleeson).  Fundamentally speaking, it's an after-school special that asks how far should a mother go to protect her child - in this case, it's a little too far - that's unfortunately too dreary for its own good: screenwriter Brad Ingelsby, who wrote HBO's Mare of Easttown, seems to view my home state of Pennsylvania as a place with minimal sunshine and maximum misery.  The cast is better than a made-for-TV movie - Gleeson enjoys playing against type while Kate's lesbian pal Jessie (Fiona Shaw) is as loyal as a friend can be - and it even tries to be clever with its "twist ending" ... except Kate's "carefully engineered" revenge plan really stretches credibility and everything conveniently "works out" for her.  Just as an aside: Kate's ex-husband Richard (Kyle MacLachlan), a prominent attorney, appears to be loaded - why doesn't Claire at least attempt to con cash out of him?