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‘HOW TO MAKE A KILLING’ Rated R
The tag line on the poster for “How to Make a Killing” reads “$28 billion inheritance. Seven relatives standing in the way.” What can this movie be other than a crime story of avarice and despair?
An answer to the question arrives when the film opens with Becket Redfellow (Glen Powell), a death row inmate, waiting for an execution that is only four hours away, and a priest (Sean C. Michael) visits to hear his final confession.
The black comedy aspect of this story is partly that Becket seems rather blasé about his impending doom. Being rather annoyed that the dessert of his last meal is a cheesecake missing the flavor he requested suggests Becket is fatalistic in his last moments.
Flashbacks ensue when it is revealed that Becket’s unwed teenage mother was rejected by her wealthy family when she resisted their entreaties to have an abortion. Instead, she’s denied staying in the lap of luxury and ends up living in a low-rent area of New Jersey, struggling as a single mom.
Years later she dies, leaving a young Becket an orphan who is also not accepted by his ultra-rich family. Working in the retail business for a clothing store as a young adult, Becket starts thinking about what his life could have been if not abandoned by relatives.
During his childhood, Becket’s mother (Nell Williams) grappled with a modest lifestyle but nevertheless surrounded her son with trappings of an upper-class upbringing with archery and piano lessons, all the while filling his head with how he deserves a share of the family’s billions.
Studying the family tree, he sees cousins and uncles that are in the way of a legacy that goes all the way to the patriarch of the Redfellow clan, his grandfather Whitelaw (Ed Harris) that he’s never met.
Even after he no longer works at the upscale Manhattan men’s shop, his ambition takes him to Wall Street, where he learns the ropes in the world of high finance, and that’s because his Uncle Warren (Bill Camp), the only decent Redfellow, lends a hand.
Catching on quickly to the ways of the Financial District of Lower Manhattan, Becket might do quite well on his own, but then his old childhood friend Julia (Margaret Qualley) comes back into his life.
Julia is engaged to be married, but she dangles the idea in front of Becket that he should come calling once he’s inherited the Redfellow fortune. Bordering on the psychotic appears to be an operating principle for avaricious Julia. Her smile alone is a dead giveaway of her intentions.
While his kind uncle is not a desirable target, Becket finds it easier to look at his cousins that are hardly sympathetic figures. First on the list is the obnoxious playboy Taylor (Raff Law), an excellent swimmer who supposedly drowns accidentally off his yacht at sea.
The pretentious artist Noah (Zach Woods) thinks his avant-garde work will put him in a class of renowned painters. More odious is slimy megachurch leader Steven (Topher Grace), whose violent temper is a sign of a man lacking grace.
A pair of FBI agents keeps showing up at times with suspicion that Becket is somehow involved, but never with any evidence that could hold up, and Becket manages to keep any emotions in check.
Astute cinephiles, the kind of film buffs who watch Turner Classic Movies, will likely reference the 1949 British black comedy crime film “Kind Hearts and Coronets” as inspiration for this contemporary work by writer and director John Patton Ford.
Dennis Price played the role of Louis Mazzini, the son of a woman disowned by her aristocratic family for marrying beneath her social class. After her death, a vengeful Louis decides to murder the eight people ahead of him in the line of succession.
In a display of versatile capability, noted actor Alec Guiness, who was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II, played eight members of the D’Ascoyne family. Other twists in the crime spree inform this reimagining of this classic film.
The enjoyment of “How to Make a Killing” may depend on how much one appreciates the role Glen Powell plays. It’s interesting to note that Powell was previously a fake assassin in “Hit Man,” and here he’s fully committed to being a serial killer, for the most part.
Aside from Powell, the next most compelling character is Margaret Qualley’s Julia, a femme fatale who’s a real snake. On the other hand, the other woman in Becket’s life is Ruth (Jessica Henwick), who is kind and shows no interest in the family fortune.
As much as “How to Make a Killing” wants to be dark satire about wealth and privilege, it’s also a cautionary tale of what you wish for, and how failing to have a moral compass is no way to live.
Tim Riley writes film and television reviews for Lake County News.