Kutcher excels in Novak’s mixed feature film debut
Perhaps best known as Ryan from The Office, B.J. Novak has long been a writer as well as an actor, and now, with his new film Vengeance, he can add feature film director to his resume. With this picture, he pulls off the cinematic trifecta of acting/writing/directing, and, for a first effort, the results aren’t bad. While not stellar by any means, the picture definitely has its moments, and signifies Novak as a filmmaker to watch.
For his first big screen project, Novak takes a page from fellow comedian Jon Stewart, who made a culture clash, fish-out-of water picture two years ago that was mildly amusing, even as it played into stereotypes. In Vengeance, Novak’s protagonist Ben isn’t a D.C. political consultant, but a New York City journalist – a podcaster, to be exact, in one of many shrewd winks to the current media scene. And Ben (played in droll deadpan by Novak himself) ventures not to the midwest from his coastal bubble, but to a fictional small town in the dry flat lands of West Texas.
He’s there to cover what he terms an “existential crime story.” Abby, a female acquaintance (that’s the polite term; the more accurate would be former hook up) of his has died, and while the cause is ostensibly an opioid overdose, her family suspects foul play. Abby’s brother Ty (Boyd Holbrook) not only wants Ben to help find the supposed killer via Ben’s investigative podcast, but also help Ty extract revenge (hence the film’s title). How Ben becomes involved with Abby’s family, who thinks Ben’s relationship with Abby was more serious than it was, is one of the film’s more unrealistic plot points, but once Ben gets to Texas the story picks up, so the narrative machinations can be forgiven slightly.
What follows are plenty of wryly funny moments where the coastal elite Ben and Abby’s red state family clash and puzzle over each other. Novak does have some fun with some stereotypes on both sides, but he never goes too broad. Most of the jokes and set-ups are smartly written, and the characters are well-drawn and unexpected, not merely easy cardboard cutouts. Succession’s J. Smith-Cameron has a nice turn as Abby’s mother, who is able to call out Ben’s condescension even as she finds a soft spot for him.
Everything from podcasts, true crime documentaries, social media, hook up culture, gun culture, and even that fast-food staple of the southwest, Whataburger (yum!), come under Novak’s crosshairs, to mostly humorous, and sometimes pointed, effect. There’s even a terrific voice cameo that will earn a knowing chuckle from NPR-listening folks.
But by far the best reason to see the film is for the exceptional performance from…. Wait for it…. Ashton Kutcher. Yes, that Ashton Kutcher, former model, ex-husband of Demi, and That 70’s Show star. Kutcher plays Quentin, the local Texas music producer who helped aspiring singer Abby make some recordings. With Quentin, Novak has created a complex, fascinating character you won’t soon forget.
Quentin is a Yale-educated Texas transplant whose monologues about current culture and life philosophy are some of the film’s best and most astute, and Kutcher’s delivery is startling in its intensity and conviction. “We are all just inspiration for the record of ourselves,” Quentin tells Ben, talking about social media. “Everything means everything, so nothing means anything.” Oof. That Kutcher pulls off these lines in a way that makes us lean in closer and not roll our eyes laughing says something right there. Kutcher’s Quentin contains multitudes, and Kutcher’s finely tuned, nuanced performance will captivate and transfix you.
That’s not to say the other actors don’t do well; they all do fine, though none comes close to matching Kutcher’s singular scenes. Novak makes for a believable striving journalist who always has an angle, and Issa Rae brings depth to her small role as Ben’s concerned producer. And, in an even smaller part, John Mayer gets a chance to poke fun at his reputation in a scene in which he and Ben compare notes about women they’ve met.
The film’s ending, though, betrays Novak’s status as a newbie filmmaker, and is the picture’s biggest flaw. The ending makes no sense following everything that’s preceded it, and feels totally off in terms of what we’ve learned about certain characters. It’s unrealistic, unsatisfying, and disappointing. Watching it, I had the sense that Novak must have neared the end of his screenplay and, not knowing how to wrap it up, just shrugged and scribbled out a fast, cheap finale. Either that, or he really thought the ending was meaningful and important. That would be odd, though, since the conclusion leaves a lot of questions and holes, and not in an interesting, open-to-interpretation way, but in an aggravating “that makes no sense” way. But this maiden project shows enough promise that if Novak can work a bit more on crafting better endings, I’ll be first in line to see his second offering.
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Vengeance opens today at Bay Area theaters.
