Snitch

Synopsis: Construction company owner John Matthews learns that his estranged son, Jason, has been arrested for drug trafficking. Facing an unjust prison sentence for a first time offender courtesy of mandatory minimum sentence laws, Jason has nothing to offer for leniency in good conscience. Desperately, John convinces the DEA and the opportunistic DA Joanne Keeghan to let him go undercover to help make arrests big enough to free his son in return. With the unwitting help of an ex-con employee, John enters the narcotics underworld where every move could be his last in an operation that will demand all his resources, wits and courage to survive.
Director(s): Ric Roman Waugh
Production: Lionsgate/Summit Entertainment
  1 nomination.
 
IMDB:
6.5
Metacritic:
51
Rotten Tomatoes:
57%
PG-13
Year:
2013
112 min
$42,908,315
Website
927 Views


That party we just threw, there were

over a thousand people there, bro.

No way. Oh, my God.

I can't wait to get up there.

Yeah. You know I'm hooking you up, too.

Just help me move a little bit of candy,

I will put some serious paper

in your pocket, man.

Speaking of, I need a solid,

I'm bringing in about two boats to

unload over the holiday break.

Two boats, man,

that's like two thousand pills.

Okay, another seven Gs

is what it is, all right?

And some of that could be yours.

No, I'm good, man.

Look, man, you don't got to do anything.

I just gotta ship the box

to your house, okay?

I can't fly with this stuff.

I don't know, bro.

Come on, it's for like a day until I get there.

You can even... You can even have some.

I know you said Amanda was dying to roll.

I'll talk to you later about it, all right.

- No, look, I'll text you the tracking number.

- No, no, no, don't.

Hey, why don't you answer the phone?

I was Skyping with Craig.

- Jason.

- Sorry.

Hello. Hi, Maggie.

No, no, Nick said that the layoffs

weren't happening in our division.

Mike, I understand, but the bottom line is

I need to buy all four rigs.

Anything less than that, there's no point.

I may as well just keep leasing.

Well, that's what they do. Those haulers,

they get together once a year,

then they raise the rates

before the gas prices.

They do because they know

they can get away with it.

See the contract?

Yeah, it's real.

I just don't know when it's going to start.

How much money

am I going to have to borrow?

All right, let's move some equity around.

I've been rolling the dice my whole life,

might as well do it again.

I gotta go.

Solid week, boys, thank you.

Figured Analisa would have you

putting up ribbons and balloons.

I'm still out getting Izzy's cake.

Good luck with that.

I need it, have a good weekend, Wayne.

See you.

You know there's no O.T.

unless it's authorized.

Not looking for O.T., sir,

it's got a broken pallet,

I'm getting my bags out of the weather,

it's going to rain tonight.

Good heads up.

Sir, I got this,

seriously, I don't want you to get dirty.

It's all right. Let's do it together.

I'm John Matthews.

Daniel James.

Good to meet you, Daniel.

Don't worry about it.

How long you been working here?

You mean working for you?

About three weeks now.

Why, you thinkin' about

givin' me that raise already?

Fat chance, buddy.

- You gotta try, right?

- Gotta give it a whirl.

I have a package for Jason Collins.

Yeah, that's me.

All right, sign right there.

All right, thanks.

Have a good one.

Thanks, man.

Search warrant! DEA!

Open the door.

DEA!

Runner, back fence!

Freeze!

Get down!

- Get on the ground!

- Down!

Cupcakes.

Thank you, that looks so good.

I love you.

Hi, baby.

You having fun on your birthday, Izzy?

Hey, Sylvie, hey, let me

call you back. I'm... What?

They tell you anything?

Just to wait here until we're called.

They're treating him like he's some kind of

major criminal, John.

All right, we'll straighten it out.

Is he under my last name or yours?

You know he changed it to mine.

Why are you even asking?

- Hi, my son, Jason Collins is...

- Take a seat and wait to be called.

Can you at least tell me where he is?

Have you noticed anything different?

Like what?

With him, who he's been hanging with,

anything out of the ordinary.

No, John, I haven't noticed anything.

This is such bullshit.

I mean, he is a good kid.

Mike's sending a lawyer.

Good, you can afford it.

Didn't you quit?

Mr. and Mrs. Matthews?

Yeah, thanks for coming.

Where's Jason?

They're moving him from his

holding cell to a courtroom.

He's scheduled to be arraigned this evening.

That could take a little while.

That's all right, leave him

in jail for a little bit,

scare the hell out of him.

No one's trying to scare your son.

This is a federal case.

The amount of MDMA,

or Ecstasy, they found

means they've charged Jason with

distribution of narcotics.

Jason said that a friend asked

to have the drugs sent to the house.

What friend?

A friend by the name of Craig Johnson.

That's his best friend.

Christ, I have known

Craig since he was little.

Mr. Johnson was arrested

trying to mail the pills,

and he agreed to work with the government.

What do you mean,

"Agreed to work with the government?"

Both Craig and Jason are being charged

under federal mandatory

minimum sentencing laws.

These laws were designed

to ensnare high-level

drug traffickers to get them

to snitch on other traffickers

in order to reduce their own sentence.

However, most of the convictions,

over half, have been first-time

offenders like your son.

So Craig is implicating Jason.

Yes. In order to reduce his sentence,

Craig told the DEA

that Jason agreed to have

the pills sent to the house

and also has agreed to help sell them.

What?

Now, Jason has denied

both of these accusations.

- Do you believe him?

- Of course I believe him.

He would never be involved

in anything like this.

Are we talking about probation here

or could he actually go to jail for this?

The mandatory minimum laws

are very simple.

The amount of jail time

depends upon the amount of drugs.

- There are no mitigating factors.

- What does that mean?

Jason is facing

a mandatory minimum sentence

- of 10 years in prison.

- Ten years?

Are you out of your mind?

He just got accepted to college.

John, tell him.

Oh, God.

Jason.

United States v. Jason Collins.

How could they deny him bail?

He's never even been arrested before.

You want to know the truth? I knew

something like this was gonna happen.

I figured if I just got him

off to college, but no.

Jason has no goddamn idea

what real responsibility means.

Especially with Sylvie

babying him all the time.

And when your own son

doesn't want to have anything

to do with you anymore...

- That's not true.

- That's not true.

That's not true at all.

It's just really hard for kids

who go through divorces.

It was, I acted out when my father left.

Yeah, well, he's not a kid anymore.

Not while he's sitting in that cell.

Are the sprinklers on?

Does everything have to go to sh*t?

Here's the situation. It's very simple.

You help them make trafficking

arrests, and they will

reduce your sentence from 10 years to two.

One suspended.

I told you, I don't know anyone else.

Just Craig.

Bullshit.

Your mom told me she smelled

marijuana on you before.

Where'd you get that from, huh?

Jason, this is serious.

Come on, honey, you gotta

tell us who sold you the pot.

I didn't... I didn't have to buy it.

Amanda's dad grows it.

He has a medicinal license.

It's legal. We just took some.

I just wanted to try it.

Okay, are there any of your friends who

do drugs who might be

interested in selling?

What, like setting someone up?

Like Craig did to me?

No way. No way.

You better wake up.

You better wake up right now

'cause this is really happening.

You're gonna take that plea,

and you're gonna help them

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Justin Haythe

Justin Haythe (born September 16, 1973) is an American novelist, short story writer, and screenwriter. He worked on the 2013 action films Snitch and The Lone Ranger, as well as the 2017 horror film A Cure for Wellness. Haythe lives in New York City, United States. more…

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Submitted on August 05, 2018

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