Finder's Keepers (2015)

By William K. Johnson

Finder’s Keepers is about a leg but that is obviously not all of it. The leg tale is wild and funny yarn that the movie uses, by way of a character study of the two men at the core of the tale, to explore deeper issues of family, fame, substance abuse, class, and a myriad of other issues. In John Wood we have a man who begins his story as a perpetually-unemployed drug addict who lost the leg as a result of failing to pay the rent for the shed while Shannon Whisnant is a somewhat successful flea shop salesman in a seemingly happy marriage.

By the end of the movie, both those will be reversed. Whisnant will be struggling in business, developing a possible painkiller addiction due to leg pain, and looking at a possible divorce while John Wood will be clean with a stable job and a happy marriage. The tale of the leg is really how this switch came about, with the leg as a possible catalyst. Both men need the leg for their self-esteem, John needs it because of issues with his father’s death and Shannon needs it to feed his desire for fame. Both also have a lot of pride invested in it.

It is how they move past, or fail to move past, their own issues that becomes the ultimate focus of Finders Keepers. Mr. Wood, by the end, has learned to move past the accident and come to grips with his guilt over it while Mr. Whisnant is still obsessed with fame and fortune. Also, Wood has learned to take responsibility for his own actions while Whisnant, who calls the grill “cursed,” has not, which is probably part of the reason why they are where they are at the end.


Finder's Keepers. Dir. Carberry, Bryan; Tweel, Clay. Perf. Wood, John; Whisnant, Shannon. Firefly Theater & Films, 2015.