“What happened last night?” is the question of the day in writer Billy Chew and director Daniel Scheinert’s The Death of Dick Long. Scheinert is one-half of the team that brought us the divisive Swiss Army Man and his obsession with butts continues in this yokel-noir story set in Alabama. I’m just going to start writing so strap in, reader, because I don’t know what to think about this film.

It opens with a garage band trying unsuccessfully cover Staind’s “It’s Been Awhile.” 90s era alt rock is the theme of the day in a movie that will continually reference Disturbed, Limp Bizkit and Nickleback. The three piece band is Zeke (Michael Abbott Jr.), Earl (Andre Hyland) and the titular Dick Long (Daniel Scheinert), best friends for life. After practicing, weed gets smoked, beers get chugged, Roman Candle fireworks get set off from crotches, guns get shot. All set to “Break It To Me Gently” as the three bros end the night in a barn.

Except we’re then whisked to Zeke and Earl freaking out, covered in blood and racing to drop Dick off at the ER. After unceremoniously dropping his body at the hospital, the two tackle the mysterious situation in different ways. Earl starts packing up his truck with plans to hightail it out of town. Zeke’s situation is a bit more complicated, as his wife Lydia (Virginia Newcomb) and precocious daughter Cynthia (Poppy Cunningham) are blissfully unaware of the tragedy unfolding around them.

Turns out, Dick is dead from rectal hemorrhaging. But Sheriff Spenser (Janelle Cochrane), who puts Malibu Rum in her coffee mug and walks with a cane, and scene-stealing Officer Dudley (Sarah Baker) are on the case. Soon, long buried secrets between a trio of bros becomes a catastrophic tragedy that walks an uncomfortable line of dark comedy and farce.

It’s not always successful.

The first two thirds of The Death of Dick Long had me enwrapped in the hapless characters, half of who are trying to cover-up their involvement in Dick’s death while the other half is trying to get to the bottom of it. The acting is the strongest part of the film, with Virginia Newcomb’s confused and tearful performance hitting all the right notes. But even the two clueless friends Zeke and Earl are given meatier parts to really play around with.

It’s easy to laugh at their idiocy, but they play the characters with a lot more pathos than I’d expect. One particular tender scene had Zeke looking inside Earl’s mouth, trying to see if he chipped a tooth. It’s a small scene, but it speaks to their friendship.

I loved everything up until the revelation of how Dick Long died. It’s at this moment of pure uncomfortableness that the movie becomes divisive. I’ve seen so many different reactions to the “twist” and I’m not completely sure how I feel about it. Some will call the reveal a one-trick pony. Some will laugh at what I just wrote. Some will be disgusted. I was mainly confused.

The movie then continues for another 30 or 40 minutes, keeping us in the uncomfortable situation it created without really saying anything. It’s here that the theme gets a bit muddled. I don’t agree with some reviewers that the director thinks it’s a hilarious joke. But I also don’t think the script knows what to do with the murder outside of using it for shock value. I think there’s something that can be said about shameful secrets or bro-code or fragile masculinity. I just don’t think it’s mined very well. It operates at its best when it was a mystery about kooky characters. It just starts to reach a bit when it tries to make sense of everything.

If there’s one thing to take from The Death of Dick Long it’s that when someone asks, “y’all mother fuckers wanna get weird?” you politely say no and go home. Maybe get some sleep instead. As in the words of Officer Dudley:

“I don’t know what else, besides that, to say, I guess.”