Movie Review : Vengeance (2022)
Everyone knows we’re ideologically divided. No one wants to hear about it unless the message is: "Fuck, we're so ideologically divided. The world is going to shit." That's why a film (even an independent film) about our ideological divide is a bad proposition in 2022. But B.J Novak's Vengeance is not exactly that. It almost is, but not quite. It is a dark comedy about universally appealing themes that happens to feature ideologically divided characters. It also happens to be one of the best movies I've seen this year.
Vengeance tells the story of talented, but arrogant and directionless New York journalist Ben Manalowitz (B.J Novak), who gets called in the middle of a one night stand with tough news: his girlfriend died. Well, Texas-born singer songwriter Abilene Shaw (Lio Tipton) thought she was Ben’s girlfriend and so did he family, but he barely remembered her. Not wanting to aggravate a grieving family, Ben flies to Texas for her funeral where her brother Ty (Boyd Holbrook) greets him with a murder conspiracy.
Although it seems batshit crazy to Ben, he smells the opportunity for the great breakthrough story he’s been waiting for.
Neurotic, self-aware New Yorkers v. Simple-minded, romantic Texans
If you ever decide to watch Vengeance, you first have to make it through the first scene and it isn't as easy as it seems. It features B.J Novak and John Mayer (who I believe is playing himself) airing a slew of superficial complaints about their dating life. It’s lengthy, brutal and I swear it gets better after that. The genius of Vengeance is that it's written and directed by a neurotic, self-aware New Yorker (who also plays in it), but it is perhaps harsher to his own side of the cultural ideological divide than the other.
Ben Manalowitz’s thesis is that Abilene wasn’t killed. That she tragically overdosed at a party. He pitched, records and launches a podcast about a murder investigation over a murder that theoretically didn't happen. Except that Ben's thesis lies on a conclusion he's taken after talking to Abilene's brother for 5 minutes and soon finds out there's a series of shady characters who orbited around her last days. The story Ben wants to tell is quite appealing to an audience of people like him, but it's not what happened.
The themes of Vengeance are profoundly unsexy, but B.J Novak makes them in a clever, seducing way anyway: it’s dangerous (and malicious) to think about people ideologically. What defines human beings are their contradictions. Local drug dealer Sancholo (Zach Villa) is sensitive and kind-hearted. Abilene's little sister Paris (Isabella Amara) has read more Chekhov than Ben. Hick record producer Quentin Sellers (A WICKED and transcendent Ashton Kutcher) is the smartest and wisest man in the county.
We'll come back to him soon enough.
Of course, the endeavour is transformative to Ben. He wants to honour the character in his story to the best of his ability, but they remain characters to him. Objects of fascination. Voices in his podcast. He becomes physically part of their story, but he ideologically remains in New York. That’s the sneaky brutal part of Vengeance. It's filled with characters who don’t want to change. Who are bending what is actually happening to their worldview even if it creates collateral damage.
We need to talk about Quentin Sellers
One thing I DIDN'T expect from Vengeance is how much the presence of Ashton Kutcher would transform the film. It instantly went from clever indie flick to a deeper kind of meditation about creativity. That guy is good in a way he never quite was before in his career. His interpretation of Quentin Sellers reminded me of Tom Cruises' Less Grossman in Tropic Thunder, except it was more difficult to interpret a philosopher like Sellers than a psychopath executive. Kutcher layered the experience in an unexpected way.
Sellers is straight out one of the best, most original characters I've come across this year. Unlike anyone else in Vengeance, he is 100% sure of who he is and he uses this sturdiness of character to help others shape who they are. He's very moving and tragic in his own way. I don't use this word lightly, but he was INSPIRING. Although he doesn't have much to do with Ben's quest (at least not until a certain point), meeting Quentin Sellers made him (and me) want to get better at our crafts.
*
Vengeance is one of the best things I've seen this year and it's been a good year for movies. It's a tale of vengeance that is also an adult coming-of-age for a self-absorbed New Yorker and the story of how irreconcilable ideological differences frame our worldview. All these themes are explored through the prism of one rather straightforward storyline that exploits who you are and where you come from in order to shape your understanding of it. I see you, B.J Novak. You’re good.
