Reviewed by Colin Jacobson (November 8, 2022)
Best-known for his long-running role on The Office, BJ Novak makes his debut as a feature film director via 2022’s Vengeance. Indeed, Novak delivers “triple threat” status, as he also serves as lead actor and sole screenwriter for the film.
New York journalist Ben Manalowitz (BJ Novak) aspires to develop a podcast, though he struggles to come up with an idea. A new concept hits him when he hears of the death of Abilene Shaw (Lio Tipton), a Texas woman with whom he hooked up briefly when she visited NYC.
Because her family believes he and Abby were soulmates, Ben finds himself guilted into a trip to the Lone Star State for her funeral. Along the way, Ben finds himself sucked into an investigation of her death that takes him down unusual paths.
Given Novak’s comedic background, one might expect Vengeance to follow suit, despite a title that doesn’t appear to promise laughs. Novak does involve light elements here, though those don’t dominate.
Instead, Novak weaves a tale that mixes comedy, thriller and character drama. Does he pull this off successfully?
Yes – sort of. While Vengeance unmistakably feels like a first effort from a neophyte filmmaker, it works well enough to keep the audience with it despite inconsistencies.
In particular, Novak struggles to balance the tone. As he melds the various genres I mentioned, he can’t quite blend them in a way that really fits all of the time.
Actually, Novak tends to lean on clichés. At the start, he paints the Shaw clan and the other locals as dimwitted hicks, but inevitably, we find much more depth to the characters.
Which seems fair, but this doesn’t come across as novel. Movies often give us the model in which visitors from the Big City assume Them Country Folk will be sub-moronic yokels but they learn differently along the way.
Consider this the Doc Hollywood concept. Though that 1991 flick didn’t invent the conceit, it acts as a perfect example of what Novak depicts here.
Though Novak shoots for something darker and more ambitious. He seeks to attempt an explanation for Red State concepts as well as interpretation of those who live in those territories.
And this becomes arguably the film’s biggest flaw: Novak bites off more than he can chew. Vengeance likely would work best as the simple investigation at its heart, one that expands to develop other characters but doesn’t attempt to offer so much socio-political commentary.
Not that I frown on attempts to reflect modern society, but in this case, Novak’s attempts just feel forced and contrived. The movie lacks the breathing room to dig into these domains well and the discussions come across as stiff and simplistic, even when Novak attempts complexity.
Novak can’t quite figure out a natural way to involve these sequences, so we wind up with an awful lot of monologues. The film occasionally grinds to a halt so characters can offer cultural and social discussions that feel tremendously “written” – ie, not like conversations real people would have.
All this said, although I can pick apart Vengeance - and already have – I like the final product. This gets back to the promise I mentioned at the start.
Undeniably, Novak gives us a movie with a mix of problems. However, he still manages to imbue it with enough cleverness and heart to make it an engaging tale.
The core story about Abilene’s death acts as a decent carrot to keep us with the movie, and cliché as so many of the characters may seem, they still offer enough charm to involve us.
This leaves Vengeance as a movie I will criticize but still recommend. It feels like more than the sum of its parts, so despite its issues, it still winds up as a compelling 108 minutes of cinema.
