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Vengeance (2022, dir. B.J. Novak) - review by Rookie-Critic
Vengeance seemed very well-intentioned. The debut feature from The Office breakout B.J. Novak (who you probably know better as Ryan), Vengeance tells the story of a self-absorbed New York journalist/wannabe podcaster named Ben who, as a result of a misunderstanding, goes to West Texas to attend the funeral of a girl who, outside of hooking up with her a few times in the past, he knows nothing about. After the funeral, the older brother of the girl (played by a fully dedicated Boyd Holbrook), based on nothing but "gut," tells Ben that his sister did not die of an overdose like the reports say, but that she was murdered and they need to avenge her death. So that's the setup.
The family of Abilene, the girl who died, is made up of a cast of borderline-caricatures that are all dislikable, but lovable in their own ways, and each get their moment to shine throughout the movie. I say borderline because, from an insider's perspective they'd seem ridiculously overblown, and from an outsider's perspective they might seem just fine. However, being from Texas (although, according to the film, "Dallas isn't Texas"), and having family members that live in a more rural area of the state (although my family is from East Texas, not West), a lot of the way they're written is 100% right on the money. There are just a couple of moments where they tipped over into straight parody. Outside of the family, there are a large cast of characters, all mostly incompetent and of no help, except for Ashton Kutcher's character, small-town record producer Quentin Sellers, who is the first person to really break Ben's narcissistic and jaded shell. Kutcher excells the movie forward and almost feels like a breath of fresh air from all the "haha funny country" people in the movie.
Some of the jokes land, some of them don't, some of them will make you roll your eyes, and you never really feel a deep, emotional connection with any one particular character until getting close to the end of the movie, and the film never misses a chance to turn a heartwarming moment into one of bleak, grim realism. Again, sometimes this works, other times you wish the moment had just been allowed to be heartwarming. For the most part, the film is good. The parts that work, work well, and again, Novak seems very well-intentioned with what he was trying to say. Sadly, he makes the movie tackle so many different subjects and tries to say so much about them that the messages end up getting muddled by the time the credits start to roll. Novak is a director to watch, though, and I'll be excited to see whatever his second attempt is now that he's got one under his belt.
Score: 7/10
Currently streaming on Peacock.
Worth it for the hilarious cameo scene with John Mayer at the very beginning alone.
