"Intriguing"

Because a day without River King reviews is like a day without rain. This one's from The Chronicle Herald of Halifax; the film scores 2.5 stars of 4.

The River King (Thriller, 14A, 100 minutes)
Director Nick Willing’s adaptation of the Alice Hoffman novel about the death of a student at a U.S. prep school combines frigid Nova Scotia location shots with intriguing plot twists, as small town cop Abel Grey (Edward Burns) tries to solve the crime no one else wants to know about. The film’s conflict comes from the friction between the snooty staff and students at the school (portrayed by both King’s-Edgehill in Windsor and University of King’s College in Halifax) and the plebian cops who are told to look the other way. Adult leads Burns and Jennifer Ehle run the emotional gamut in their roles, but young actors Thomas Gibson as the doomed student August and Rachel Lefevre as his friend Carlin give the film the necessary dramatic juice to offset The River King’s chilly scenes of winter.