HOLLYWOOD—You may think a movie with a title like “How to Make a Killing” would be something quite dark, but the title can be a bit more misleading than you imagine. It is not the dark comedy that you think it is. It is more of a drama winking its eyes at the audience, but I wanted more. The star of the movie is Becket Redfellow (Glen Powell).
Powell is a fine actor, but he has seemed to find himself in these very similar roles where he is the underdog and tasked with doing extreme things to obtain his overall goal. Becket comes from a family of extreme wealth, but he never got the opportunity to experience any of that wealth because his mother was exiled from the family because she had him as a teenager. Go figure right.
I thought the opening to “How to Make a Killing” was intriguing, we meet our protagonist in a prison cell having a conversation with a priest, but we don’t know all the ins and outs of what has unfolded, which is the allure of the mystery that draws you in. That soon brings the audience to getting a slice of Becket’s life growing up and where he was before he was imprisoned.
While working as a suit salesman, Beckett encounters his former childhood pal, Julia (Margaret Qualley), whose presence is not known at first. I won’t spoil things, but as a spectator, Julia’s character is underutilized; I wanted to see more of her character in the movie because she was a fascinating focal point in the narrative that takes the audience on a few twists and turns. What is the problem? Those twists and turns are not that exciting.
The movie’s title does exactly what you expect: Beckett begins knocking off his family members in the goal to claim his part of the family inheritance that his mother was denied. The deaths are not gruesome or wicked but come across as comedic accidents. Beckett starts to question what he is doing when he becomes entangled in a romance with his cousin’s girlfriend Ruth (Jessica Wenick), after he dies.
Again, Ruth is another character underutilized, as Beckett is the focal point and we see characters come in and out of his life, with some impact, but it could have been fleshed out a bit more. The big climax is somewhat disappointing because you can see it coming from a mile away, but more importantly it’s not that satisfying.
You’re left feeling ambivalent with the result. I was intrigued with “How to Make a Killing” in the beginning, only to find myself disappointed by the time the credits started to roll.
