Synopsis: Disowned at birth by his obscenely wealthy family, blue-collar Becket Redfellow (Glen Powell) will stop at nothing to reclaim his inheritance, no matter how many relatives stand in his way.
What We Thought:
How To Make A Killing wants to be so many other movies that it forgets to be its own movie. Instead of being a dark comedy with something to say like Ready Or Not or a dark satire with something to say like American Psycho, it ends up being neither. I understand why it’s getting zero promotional push by A24.
The worst part is, Glen Powell has all the charisma in the world to make his character Becket Redfellow the next Patrick Bateman or Joe Goldberg. He’s a good looking guy with a big Tom Cruise smile, if you add that to a character with a genuinely good reason to kill people and the film should be an absolute hit in today’s anti-rich people climate. Unfortunately the film is kind of a hot mess not knowing if it should lean into the comedy or drama.
Becket is the son of a woman thrown out by her elitist family for getting pregnant. He’s not raised in wealth, but knows it could be his eventually. As life throws one hardship after another at him, taking out those who should have been there for his mother just makes sense. The first kill is quite comical and if the movie went into the ridiculous like Ready or Not it would have worked better. As he climbs the socio-economical ladder, he realizes he could very easily fit into that finance/Wall Street lifestyle. It could have went into a Wolf of Wall Street/Boiler Room meets American Psycho angle, but again it doesn’t. By not picking a lane, it doesn’t get to where it needs to go. Becket is easy to root for because of his situation, but none of the characters get flushed out beyond stereotypes of the elites.
That’s probably the biggest issue with the film, the characters. There are far too many of them. There are too many family members to kill and I didn’t like the order they went in. One character should have been the final act because he was the only decent one in the bunch. It would have made the third act more emotional to Becket’s journey.
Then there are the two love interests. Don’t get me wrong I understand why one man might be into both Jessica Henwick and Margaret Qualley, but the film should have only had one. Qualley’s character is a mess with no real reason for her to be as crazy as she is. Other than a childhood crush, there’ s no adult reasoning for Becket to really get as involved as he does. Henwick’s character humanizes him back to his lower income upbringings and feels like the only authentic person in his life. The family members are his antagonists, he didn’t need Qualley there as much as she was.
I really enjoyed director John Patton Ford’s first film Emily the Criminal and was hoping to enjoy How To Make A Killing, but the film is too jumbled to really sink your teeth into it. Powell tries his best, but Becket doesn’t make the all-time bad guys with a good reason list. This film will come and go with little fanfare and will get forgotten just as quickly.
The Nerds Templar 