This watchable if undeniably on-the-nose drama follows middle-aged American mother Barbara (Siobhan Fallon Hogan) on a quest for justice after her first-year student son Jimmy (Jay Jay Warren) dies at a party in his frat house after imbibing an excess of alcohol and pills. In entirely believable fashion, the son’s university refuses to admit any responsibility for Jimmy’s death. But Barbara is a feisty Irish-Catholic with red hair, and has an unquenchable devotion to her children – although her focus on them, especially her ill-fated eldest son, comes off a little dysfunctional in the early part of the film as she calls Jimmy incessantly to hear how his pledge week is going. After his death, and a period of mourning and housecoat wearing, she goes on a long road trip to gather information about other kids who died in hazing rituals in order to either get a news story published or put pressure on her local senator to do something about the harmful effects of these initiation ceremonies.

As it enters the home stretch, viewers who haven’t done their research might be thinking this film could be something based on a true story about a crusading, working-class woman defeating the weaselly educational institutions or the formidably well-funded “Greek” network of fraternities and sororities. But then it goes off in a whole other revenge-tragedy direction, which is kind of barmy but also much more satisfying.

Few actors would have been able to pull this off like Hogan, who is not only the star but also the film’s screenwriter and producer. She’s one of those “who-is-that-again?” character actors you’ve seen hundreds of times before in all sorts of films, from Men in Black to Lars von Trier’s Dogville and most recently Clifford the Big Red Dog; she is ordinary looking but also radiant, a force of nature in a fringed buckskin coat. Danish director Vibeke Muasya just rolls with it and lets Hogan steer the ship.

• A Mother’s Fury is available on 20 June on digital platforms.