The Long Game (also known as The Method) stars Sekai Abeni as a hopeful young actress who forms an unusual relationship with an aging star played by Kathleen Turner.

The Long Game uses some of the classic neo-noir techniques. The characters are morally ambiguous. There’s a sultry voice over. There were only anti-heroes among the characters.

Holly (Sekai Abeni) was an aspiring actress, working as a waitress. Or as she put it, “If you aren’t a waitress are you really an actress?”

The film makes a point of introducing Sekai Abeni as if it’s her first role, but I’d actually seen her before in Paper Girls. The opening credits reminded me a lot of the credits for Jessica Jones. They looked like something from a comic book and were backed with jazzy music. That aesthetic was dropped when the film began.

At her waitressing job, Holly waits on a man who introduces himself as Richard (Jackie Earle Haley). He’s much older. A small man and completely bald. He talks to her about acting and convinces her to return a “lost” dog to aging star Mariah McKay (Kathleen Turner).

Very quickly, Holly is sleeping with Richard and living in the maid’s bedroom at Mariah McKay’s mansion in Beverly Hills. The house was a wreck that Holly spent weeks cleaning up.

Richard is obsessed with Mariah McKay and her jewelry. He asks Holly about it all the time and starts to hint that Holly should steal some of it. She’s not sure she’s cut out to be a thief. Plus, she likes Mariah and hopes Mariah will somehow give a boost to her acting career.

Once Holly gets the house cleaned up, Mariah throws a big party for all her old Hollywood pals from her glory days. Holly invites a few of her friends, including Clay (Daniel Burgess-Wise) from her acting class. Very quickly, Mariah has Clay in her bed. He cheers her right up.

Sekai Abeni and Jackie Earle Haley are good in this – convincing. Kathleen Turner is just having fun being the aging star who still has her sparkle intact. Some parts of it were mysterious, some parts of it were obvious, and the surprise ending was fun.

This is nowhere near a great movie, but it grew on me. I liked it more as it went along after an initial not very good impression. The film was directed by a woman, Jace Anderson. It’s streaming on Prime Video and Tubi.

If you decide to give it a try, let me know what you think.