As a fan of both John Swab's work as a director so far and Frank Grillo I was looking forward to this. It didn't disappoint. Little Dixie is in the vein of things like Too Old To Die Young and Brawl In Cell Block 99 a slow paced methodical thriller that has you on the edge of your seat for the majority of the runtime.

As I said before I've been a fan of Frank Grillo for a while and if this was the 1980's I think he would be a huge star. He possesses all the qualities a movie star should have. Great looks, great actor and is charismatic and likable. Aside from having a leading role in two of The Purge movies Grillo has mostly been relegated to B movies where he's either criminally underused or completely wasted. With the exception being his collaborations with Joe Carnaghan in Boss Level and Copshop who knows Grillo is a skilled actor and charismatic and likable and puts him front and center and knows how to use him properly. Little Dixie proves that John Swab is the only other director Grillo has worked with so far that knows how to use him properly. He's front and center here and his name is the only one on the poster. Despite the cast containing some other recognizable names in Eric Dane and Annabeth Gish they don't overshadow Grillo or move him to the sidelines. Beau Knapp also gives a good performance here as the terrifying cartel member "Cuco".

The film opens with the execution of a cartel member, the brother of the kingpin. Governor Richard Jeffs (Eric Dane) takes a victory lap on TV and vows to take down the Prado cartel to the dismay of Doc Alexander (Frank Grillo) and Billie (Annabeth Gish). We discover that Billie funnels money into the governor's campaign from anonymous sources. One of those sources, unknown to the governor is the Prado cartel. Doc, former special ops man is the liaison between the cartel and Billie. They are not pleased. Our couple meets with the governor to let him know who is buttering his bread. Rather than back off, the governor goes after the cartel's warehouse. Cuco Prado (Beau Knapp) a fan of Drag Queen karaoke, kidnaps Doc's daughter (Sofia Bryant) and demands the head of the governor (also special ops) in return for his daughter.

There is a lot of killing out in the open. No one covers their tracks and no one gets caught. The film was rather boring, even the exciting and climatic scenes were toned down.

Guide: F-word. Unnamed extras nudity. Implied MM sex.

I cannot believe there is anyone that could find a single redeeming thing about this movie.

It's absolute garbage from start to finish and will leave you shaking your head, questioning how on earth this got a green light to be produced.

I can only hope that the people that poured money into this lost the lot and it will deter them from putting out similar garbage in the future.

I was groaning in agony multiple times at how pathetic everything is. The acting, the dialogue, the plot, the only thing that could be said is that it's shot fairly well for what it is.

Oh yeah.. the drag queen karaoke... what a ghastly scene to randomly throw into this. Just awful all around.