Yearning to see a film noir set in Buffalo, New York, with dramatic shots of Niagara Falls? Director Jenna Ricker has just what you are looking for with a murder mystery that expands to a conspiracy thriller involving the technical designs of Nikola Tesla, a notorious scientist.

The drama begins with the shooting of beautiful woman working with Charlie Paczynski (Greg Stuhr), a Polish private detective who is trying to make a little extra cash on a blackmail scheme. As he searches to find her killer, this unconventional sleuth finds himself in over his head in a quest involving many different law breakers. One of them compares him to Mike Hammer and Charlie's response is, "I always preferred Mike Hammer." "Even your idols are second-rate" is the zinger.

The best thing about The American Side are the variety of characters in this small, independent film: Robert Vaughn as an observant old man, Matthew Broderick and Camilla Belle as a weird and untrustworthy brother and sister, Janeane Garofalo as a mysterious government agent, and Robert Forster as energy baron.