Vengeance – Movie Review
94 Minutes, Rated R
Written and Directed by B.J. Novak
**NOTE: You can read Mark’s review below, read Ryan’s review HERE, then listen as we discuss the film in more depth.**
Synopsis:
A radio host from New York City attempts to solve the murder of a girl he hooked up with and travels down south to investigate the circumstances of her death and discover what happened to her.
Vengeance is one of those films that presents itself one way before throwing you an 80s-era “psyche!” and giving you something completely different.
As journalist and wanna-be podcaster Ben (Novak) finds himself somehow, improbably, flying to West Texas for the funeral of a girl he barely knew back in New York, he becomes convinced that her family, and their steadfast assertion that she was murdered, can be the story he needs to break through the door of his dream gig back in New York.
[What kind of idiot wants to be a podcaster? I mean, really… oh, wait…]
With the approval of the podcast manager, Ben begins recording everything in this small, oil-dependent town, while trying to remind them that they are not going to hunt down and kill the murderer, simply hunt them down.
So begins what seems to be a quasi-lighthearted comedic fish-out-of-water romp, more than tinged with liberal caricatures of the unwashed and ignorant masses of middle America, as well as some revealing insight into the mindset of the coastal liberal elites.
Gradually, though, Ben begins to have his own suspicions about what happened, and his opinions about the family evolve; he doesn’t thing them any less unwashed or ignorant, mind you, but they slowly ingratiate themselves to him as he gets an actual, first-hand look into their lives.
By the end of the film, Ben — and the audience — has been treated to an expose of attitudes from across the social and political spectrum, all of which are simultaneously true and false in that uniquely American way.
By the closing scene, which you probably won’t see coming, Ben has become something he would never have expected possible, and his views on the world will likely never be the same again.
This was a surprising shift in tone, one which makes the back half of the film much better than the front half (though the front half is entertaining enough).
And don’t even get me started on Ashton Kutcher’s performance in this.
Check it out.
Vengeance hits theaters this Friday, July 29 and stars B.J. Novak, Issa Rae, Ashton Kutcher, Boyd Holbrook, J. Smith-Cameron, Dove Cameron.
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