A scene from Sugar Mountain.
It's a promisingly cynical idea: Two brothers, deep in debt, plot a hoax in order to sell their survival story. Miles (Drew Roy), the dashing daredevil, will "disappear" on an Alaska mountain. His girlfriend, Lauren (Haley Webb), will fret prettily for the TV cameras. His brother, Liam (Shane Coffey), the plodding pragmatist, will be blamed because Lauren fakes entries in Liam's diary suggesting he's desperately in love with her. When Miles limps into town two weeks later, all will be forgiven and riches will rain down. It's no surprise when things go wrong. But it's disappointing because the plot twists we get are not the ones we want. They look like complications, but they don't deepen the story or connect it to any wider ideas (Why do humans revel in others' suffering?). There is one bright spot, though: Jason Momoa (Game of Thrones) shows up as the town baddie, bringing a much-needed injection of scariness. The three mopey leads concoct a hoax on a mountain. Momoa is a mountain.