How to Make a Killing: A Review (Review #2140)

HOW TO MAKE A KILLING

Family can be such a bother sometimes, especially when they keep you from getting a vast fortune. How to Make a Killing gives us a dark tale of one young man's rise to the top only to fall through no fault of his own.

Told mostly in flashback from death row, we hear from Becket Redfellow (Glen Powell). Becket is speaking to a priest, presumably his last confession before being executed. Becket recounts his tale of woe.

Becket Redfellow, had there been true justice, would have grown up in wealth. He is the scion of the incredibly wealthy Redfellow family. However, as his mother Mary (Nell Williams) got knocked up by a cellist who promptly dropped dead, she and Becket are exiled from the Redfellow family.

Fortunately, the Redfellow trust precludes any Redfellow descendant from being excluded from the family fortune. Theoretically at least, Becket does have a chance to inherit everything provided that he is the sole living heir. Unfortunately for him, there are seven people ahead of him in terms of inheritance. A chance encounter with his poisonous object of desire Julia Steinway (Margaret Qualley) pushes him over the edge. He has desired the more affluent Julia since they were children. Now, with his job lost to the owner's nephew and no real prospects, Becket decides that he has one course open.

He must kill all seven Redfellows who outrank him to gain his rightful fortune.

Easier said than done given that Becket, at heart, is a nice guy. Not a nice guy is his cousin Taylor (Raff Law), an obnoxious finance bro and first victim. At Taylor's funeral, he meets Taylor's father Warren (Bill Camp). Uncle Warren is genuinely guilt-stricken over how Mary and Becket were treated. Warren, who is genuinely kind to his nephew, gives Becket a job at his trading firm, where Becket soon masters the art of the deal. 

He also masters the gentle art of murder. Next on the hitlist is another cousin, faux-photographer Noah (Zach Woods). All it takes are some chemicals mixed with Noah's smoking to have him smoked. Noah leaves a surprising gift for Becket in his girlfriend Ruth (Jessica Henwick). She finds Becket attractive as he does her. Becket killing other Redfellows becomes both easier and harder. It is easier because the other Redfellows are mostly a lousy lot. It becomes harder because the FBI is starting to note how so many Redfellows seem to be dropping dead at an alarming rate.

Soon, his cousin, fake evangelist Steven (Topher Grace), along with society doyenne Aunt Cassandra (Biana Amato) and Uncle McArthur (Adam Lennox) all meet untimely deaths. Becket's relationship with Ruth blossoms. Becket's relationship with Julia keeps butting in. She is determined to put the squeeze on Becket to get money for her financially strapped husband Lyle (James Frecheville). Becket won't play dice no matter how many times Julia thrusts her shapely legs at him. How can he kill Uncle Warren, who is a decent man? How can he get to his reclusive grandfather Whitelaw Redfellow (Ed Harris)? Will Becket get away with all his crimes? Will he be brought down by his own actions or by the most unexpected set of circumstances not of his own making? 

How to Make a Killing is supposedly "inspired" by the Alec Guiness film Kind Hearts and Coronets. Judging by the end results, the only thing that separates the two is that the various victims were not played by the same person. How to Make a Killing seems pretty much a remake in all but name. I do not know if writer/director John Patton Ford ever opted to just declare How to Make a Killing as a remake/updated version. Perhaps another time I will look over the two versions. However, for now, let us look at How to Make a Killing.

I think there are a couple of issues that push How to Make a Killing Down. The first is Glen Powell. Powell is not a bad actor. Powell, however, is a very likeable actor. As such, his various kills and growing ruthlessness seem so out of character for him. I understand that is probably why Powell was cast as Becket Redfellow. Initially, his bumbling manner early on in the first few kills could be plausible. However, as How to Make a Killing goes on, Powell keeps being almost too nice to be this cold-blooded person. Becket is motivated by a sense of anger and entitlement. Glen Powell, as competent as he is, never seems to make Becket into this merry murderer.

The second major issue is in the actual killings. How to Make a Killing makes it pretty easy to get rid of the other Redfellows because for the most part, they are rather loathsome. Ford's screenplay does not give us people. He gives us caricatures. Taylor, Noah and Steven are such awful people that we feel nothing when they are dispatched. The runtime, admittedly, does not give us much time to get to know them. They are nothing more than cannon fodder. The end results, unfortunately, are that the various victims are nothing more than quick cameos. Topher Grace in particular comes to mind. It is easy to paint Steven as a huckster. However, there is no buildup to how he is swindling people. When you plan to kill someone, even someone that you dislike, one figures that there would be a bit of a moral struggle. There would not be if you have no moral compass.

Becket, however, does. You therefore end up with a curious situation. The killer, who is actually a pretty nice fellow, has no struggle killing people who are pretty awful. Add to that how the film has to rush through things. Aunt Cassandra, for example, is popped off so quickly that I do not think that she was in the film for even five minutes. 

The performances kept to the broad manner that How to Make a Killing was going for. Margaret Qualley was the standout. She just had to prop up her legs and deliver her dialogue in a sharp manner to show herself as the alluring, slightly bored, temptress. Qualley made Julia into this selfish and shrewd figure, able to get what she wanted. Jessica Henwick was also strong as Ruth, the woman that Becket loved and lost. It does seem a stretch to see how or why Ruth would be with Noah. However, it is not outside the realm of possibility. Ed Harris seemed to be having a hoot as the loony, murderous patriarch.

How to Make a Killing made an effort to be wry and satirical. It however got a bit lost. It did not have the sharp enough edge to be either as ruthless or as comic as it aimed for. Attempting to be both, it ended up being neither. How to Make a Killing is too nice to slay. 

DECISION: C-