Friday Night Flick: Vengeance

If you're looking for a different kind of movie, you're looking for Vengeance, an edgy little film that you'll  think is a fish out of water comedy.

In many respects, it is that, but it' a whole lot more too.

Starring B. J. Novak, Dove Cameron, Boyd Holbrook, Lio Tipton, Ashton Kutcher, and John Mayer, it purports to be a story about  a New York City journalist and podcaster who is emotionally blackmailed into attending the funeral of a Texas woman with whom he briefly hooked up.

I say emotionally blackmailed, but it's really a combination of that plus an interesting combination of  apathy, restelessness, lack of assertiveness, and a bone-deep feeling of searching for something he can't name.

Once in Texas, Been finds the stock characters most people who've never been to Texas think populate our state.

(I always cringe at how too many outsiders see us, and movies like this perpetuate the image.)

Yet, at the same time, he finds people who take him into their hearts—people who take the time to be really listen instead of paying more attention to their cell phones than the person next to them.

Along the way, he gets to know the dead woman and finds himself wishing he'd made the effort when she was alive. Her death by drug overdose spins the story into a different direction and takes dead aim at a surprise ending you won't see coming.

The ending is at once a shock and in some ways a disappointment—I won't tell you why because that would be a spoiler—but at the same time, an  unavoidable truthful conclusion.

Stellar performances by the cast, and the West Texas landscape of dying towns and little econmoic opportunity is as much a character as the people in the movie. 

PRODUCTION DETAILS

Vengeance was releaseed July 29, 2022, in the USA. The star, B. J. Novak, was also the director. Music was by Finneas O'Connell. The film was produced by Jason Blum, Greg Gilreath, and Adam Hendricks, and distributed by Focus Features.

You can watch Vengeance on  Peacock TV, ROW8, Prime Video, Vudu, Redbox, Apple TV, or on your Roku device.

TAKEAWAY TRUTH

Vengeance is the kind of movie that makes you think about it days after watching it. 

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