The Lifeless Husk of “How to Make a Killing”
Once again there’s a new Glen Powell movie in theaters, and once again no one cares. “How to Make a Killing” was written and directed by John Patton Ford, the very capable director of 2022’s “Emily the Criminal.” What went so wrong here? It’s like someone snatched the script out of his hand after the first draft and said “No need to revise, I’m sure this is all fine and makes sense.”
I regret to inform you that it is not fine, nor does it make sense. The film follows Powell’s regally-named Becket Redfellow, whose teenage mother was cast out from her billionaire family when she got pregnant. Becket grows up in ‘gasp’ Newark, New Jersey with the knowledge that he’d inherit billions… if only there weren’t seven people in line for the money before him.
Thus is hatched an undercooked, nonsensical, and frankly stupid plan for Becket to one by one kill off his other family members to get the billions. Why does he want the money? We never learn. What warped this man’s brain to justify the systematic murder of his entire extended family? No one cared enough to put it in the script.
Instead we watch Glen Powell, all smiles and disguises and charm, killing his cousins and aunts and uncles without giving it a second thought, pursuing money he doesn’t even know what to do with. His plots and schemes are explained quickly, performatively, as if we would never be interested in watching him hatch and execute them. The film is uninterested in its own ideas. We’re just supposed to sit there and think “A-ha! A capitalism metaphor!”
When Glen Powell made his big splash in “Top Gun: Maverick” Hollywood tried so hard to make him the next Tom Cruise. He’s been everywhere the past few years, boring us to death in “The Running Man,” “Anyone But You,” and Hulu TV shows no one watches.
Glen Powell can be saved. I believe in him. “Hit Man” in 2023 was the purest distillation of his charms and one of my favorite movies of that year. He just needs to take his time and pick better roles. If you want to be Tom Cruise, don’t play Patrick Bateman.
Rating: 5/10
“How to Make a Killing” is now in theaters.
