Vince Vaughn stars in this drama about a single father trying to balance career ambitions against personal responsibilities. In A Cool Dry Place, Vaughn plays Russell, a lawyer in a small town in Kansas who has been raising his five-year-old son Calvin (Bobby Moat) on his own since his wife Kate (Monica Potter) left him without notice. After a year and a half as a single man, Russell is starting to rebuild his personal life and begins dating Beth (Joey Lauren Adams), a pretty veterinarian's assistant who has taken a shine to him. However, Russell's new relationship runs into rough waters when Kate returns, looking to re-establish her relationship with Calvin, and Russell is offered a high-paying job with a law firm in Dallas, TX. Director John N. Smith, best known for Dangerous Minds, shot the Kansas sequences on location in Ontario, Canada; Dallas, however, plays itself.
~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide