What did you watch? The 2022...dark comedy? pseudo noir? hipster commentary? Vengeance.
Vengeance was written by, directed, and stars B.J. Novak, aka Ryan from The Office. Ryan is a soulless Millennial know it all who goes from being an intern to becoming everyone's boss for a bit before, well, it's a comedy, comedic and unlikely things happen for that character as he resumes a career at an office supply company. In Vengeance, Novak has written himself as Ben, a millennial features writer who finds an opportunity to tell an open ended murder mystery about a "Dead White Girl" in an NPR "Serial"-style podcast of that name.
Ben is patient but condescendingly wry while interviewing the grieving family of Abby, a musician he had hooked up with while she was living in New York. He considers the family, almost openly, to be living stereotypes of backwards rural Texans. (Texas is a HUGE place, by the way, as one of the first jokes that is presented when Ben is contacted by Abby's brother indicates.) His own stereotypical shallowness is exposed occasionally when he mansplains a literary plot device only for one of the rubes corrects him. Everyone speaks highly of Abby as a talented and pure being who didn't deserve overdosing in the middle of nowhere at an afterparty that is part of a social culture that Ben can't quite understand. If everyone knows that these parties go on and people die there, why can't anyone, including law enforcement, stop it? And much of the time he openly wonders if Abby was murdered, sensitively dancing around if the family has a story of Abby created to tell themselves as a way to make themselves feel better because, well, maybe the party culture Abby ran with could only result in an accidental overdose.
Is there a mystery? Much of the movie is Ben taking in the culture, from the indifference of four law agencies to a local rodeo where Ben is publicly eviscerated when trying to fit in. His helpers, Abby's brother and his rube friend, tell stories of local toughs - when one tough associated with the party culture is pointed out a bar, Ben bolts unarmed to confront the gangster and ask about Abby. Does Abby's brother avoid the confrontation because he's plotting his own Texas style "vengeance" or is he afraid because he believes the stories they tell about each other? Are we seeing Ben out of character to confront the gangbanger to impress Abby's brother or is this the kind of reporter Ben is?
The mystery part of it is ok - it's Ben's investigation beyond narrating a fluff piece (that he knows is a bunch of BS that will win over the Serial crowd) where I think about the old timey radio mysteries where there's only so many characters introduced and interacted with, and that limits the whodunnit. I was more afraid that this would be a comedy like David Cross' Hits where none of the characters have an arc, and are all a set up for comedy. Here Ben accepts that the people entrusting him to tell their story aren't just characters for him to comment on, to the point where he does want to set things right for Abby even at the expense of the story he has invested in creating.
Was it good? Mostly. I've thought about the ending a lot, would Ben have really have acted that way - I recommend it so you can see it and wonder about it yourself. I wasn't fully into that aspect but, it's an ending and definite and not something random like if Ben was himself an aloof character who didn't learn anything and was played as a sarcastic commentary
(where he'd likely die at the hands of a serial killer or something like that). As far as a production, I stopped early on thinking about a guy who wrote and directed himself. It was well done and didn't come off as a self-important release. I laughed out loud at a lot of things, from Ben trying to cover up his barely existent relationship with Abby to being mocked because he tried to fit in by mentioning a college in Texas. There's over the top characters yet the rubes like Abby's brother come off as authentic who only wants to point out that someone is responsible for Abby's death and someone should care, especially her nonexistent boyfriend. Recommended! Check it out.
No comments:
Post a Comment