Jul 28

Jul 28 'Vengeance' film review: B. J. Novak's dry satire focuses on humanity behind true crime

'The Office' star B.J. Novak's filmmaking debut drops a smug podcast investigator into a Texas-sized noir mystery in 'Vengeance' (opening in theaters nationwide July 29).

In short: New York City podcaster Ben Manalowitz (writer-director Novak) attempts to solve the death of a girl he hooked up with and travels to West Texas to investigate what happened to her. Boyd Holbrook, Dove Cameron, Issa Rae and Ashton Kutcher also star.

The commercials for 'Vengeance,' framing this wry satire as pretty straightforward murder-mystery, do Novak's directorial debut a bit of a disservice. The truth of what happened to aspiring musician Abilene (Lio Tipton) is merely the hook of this thoughtful little Texas tale that uses storytelling to scrutinize the very act of storytelling. Beneath the whodunit mystery take and its Texas backdrop, 'Vengeance' is a rebuke of the obsession for oversimplified true crime reduces human misery to easily digestible podcast episodes guided by pompous narrators.

Your standard "murder mystery" flick grabs the audience with audacious twists and turns - but Novak's script upends and plays with these expectations. A stupider version of this story would have dropped a keen detective into an eccentric rural town, and let his razor sharp skills of observation crack the case in a story accented by a cast of background, one-dimensional caricatures. Yet, if any one character is a parody, it's the condescending New Yorker who starts a bad faith "investigation" into Abilene's death.

Ben's introduction revels in his smug assuredness in his worldview. He voices his yearning to tell a story that 'connects' with people - only moments after gleefully reveling in his disconnection from the many hook-ups in his contact list. From the moment he pitches his podcast idea, Ben's preconceived notions of small-town Texas color and prejudice his very mission. He outright dismisses the "Abilene was murdered" notion in favor of podcast that merely paints Abilene's grieving family as deluded. He arrives at his podcast's thesis before recording a single interview. And it's with Ben's misguided, self-satisfied arrogance where 'Vengeance' finds its footing: Ben's prejudices and very character are challenged time and again.

Novak's screenplay outlines the humanity and complexity invisible in most disposable true crime new media. The very nature of true crime exploits real-life tragedy to the morbidly curious, sometimes garnishing these stories with odd eccentricities - but rarely, if ever, truly connecting real-life heartbreak to horrific crimes. 'Vengeance' embraces Abilene, Texas as a rich small town populated by complex people - not just one-note characters. The film doesn't allow the outsider to punch down on small town America without pointing out that it is the New York journalist who is initially small minded and shallow.

Sometimes laugh-out-loud hilarious and sometimes pensive, Novak’s script is a sharp, bone dry comedy. Almost none of its jokes follow a standard “setup/punchline” structure. Instead, Novak mines laughs from watching Ben just going along with the misunderstanding that he was Abilene’s devoted boyfriend (rather than some random hook-up) and just how out-of-touch Ben’s NYC lifestyle is from Texan Frito pie. Occasionally the monologues are a bit too “on the nose,” painfully spelling out the film’s themes rather than using a bit more nuance. This is odd because Novak’s script is quite confident in its character-based humor (often at Ben’s expense) but sometimes the dialogue gets lazy when the script just lays out its ideas.

While 'Vengeance' deftly balances its mystery noir take with its broader statement of humanity, the film's ultimate conclusion feels like a rushed "oh right, this is also supposed to be a mystery" resolution. While final acts plot points rush to the finish line, the script's closing monologues elegantly subverts Ben's very notions of storytelling - and his part in the morally grey exercise of the true crime genre.

Final verdict: 'Vengeance' hooks with a mystery (that might not be an actual whodunit) that compels as it connects to a disconnected New Yorker immersing himself in the utterly unfamiliar Texas life.