‘How to Make a Killing’: Glen Powell Murders for the Money in Bland Oddball Comedy 

Alci Rengifo

The plot of “How to Make a Killing” has the makings of a vicious dark comedy. In its subtext is the stuff of tragic greed and desperation. What it poses is quite simple: If you’re in line somewhere down the family tree for a major inheritance, why not just kill off everyone else ahead of you? Director John Patton Ford surprisingly plays it quite safe. For the lead he has Glen Powell, a would-be star who has the natural look of a leading man. Margaret Qualley is also here with that trademark grin of hers. Yet, they play the material so damn straight. It is as if the film feels too timid to be truly funny or savage. 

Powell is Becket Redfellow, who we first meet as he sits in a jail cell awaiting his execution. A priest (Adrian Lukis) arrives for a final chat. Becket doesn’t care for any kind of religious absolution. He would rather just narrate his life’s journey. Flashbacks reveal how Becket was born out of wedlock to the daughter of the billionaire Redfellow family. As a result, she was banished by patriarch Whitelaw Redfellow (Ed Harris). After raising Becket to still have a good education and the manners of the elite, mom died too young from a sudden illness. Because of a trust established by Whitelaw, Becket would inherit the family fortune if he were the youngest left alive. Tired of his job at a high-end men’s clothing store, Becket decides to knock out the necessary Redfellows to make his way up towards the inheritance. Old childhood friend Julia Steinway (Qualley) also reappears, hinting that she would happily partake in snatching the $28 billion fortune.

Ford’s approach to this material is an odd refusal to acknowledge the logic at play. This is surprising from the director of “Emily the Criminal,” a great directorial debut starring Aubrey Plaza as a millennial crushed by debt who decides to engage in credit card fraud. We instantly believed Plaza as a woman eager to grab the first sign of a life away from a numbing job and empty bank account. “How to Make a Killing” is essentially following around a man who decides to become a murderer. Desperation does not necessarily come into play because early in the plot, Becket introduces himself to his uncle, Warren Redfellow (Bill Camp) and is instantly given a cushy job on Wall Street. Why does he then insist on a psychologically traumatizing scheme? There is no sense of a man pushed over the edge by society, as in Park Chan-wook’s recent “No Other Choice,” about a Korean man desperate to kill off the competition for a coveted job. Neither is there any hint of madness or narcissism at play like Christian Bale in “American Psycho,” one of the great satires of capitalism as a bloodsport. 

Powell is never ruthless, seeming so nice and normal to a bland degree. It isn’t the niceties of a person hiding their darker self. Becket makes killing seem about as regular as getting an oil change. His targets are also not necessarily monsters we root for giving them the axe. They are soft stereotypes. Becket’s first victim (Raff Law) is a finance bro who throws pool parties, tossing cash at attendees from a helicopter. Another cousin (Zach Woods) is the typical trust fund baby who tries to live as an artist. The only truly unsavory option might be Steven J. Redfellow (a hilarious Topher Grace), a megachurch preacher who shows off a picture of himself shaking hands with El Chapo. Even then, like the others, when Steven learns Becket is his estranged cousin he welcomes him with open arms. You get the sense Becket wouldn’t actually need to kill these people to at the very least bask in the family perks. 

Margaret Qualley brings some of the darker charm missing in the material as an enigmatic femme fatale who is so underused. For most of the film she pops in to remind Becket she is interested in the family fortune. There is sexual tension and we learn she is married to a total bore. Instead of developing a twisted relationship, Ford sees the need to add another angle with a nice school teacher, Ruth (Jessica Henwick), for Becket to fall for and start dating. She represents what should be a healthier life choice for Becket, reminding him that she would love him without a lot of money. This is of course the classic plot beat of Becket needing to keep secret his murderous scheme from the innocent love interest. By the end, we’re surprised to remember Ed Harris is part of the cast when he reappears for some fun maniacal dialogue during the necessary climactic showdown. 

There has been much chatter in pop culture about Glen Powell being a leading man in search of the perfect leading role. Past hits have been franchise revivals like “Top Gun: Maverick” and “Twisters.” An actor has to follow direction and while he looks fit for the environment of “How to Make a Killing,” ultimately it is Ford who has settled on the film’s strange tone. He is playing too straight and safe with a story that should hold nothing back in terms of comedy, social commentary or even violence. This is a story of an everyday man deciding to take extreme measures, yet the most we get is a guy who is yanked off a boat by an anchor or Topher Grace taking a sip of a poisoned fitness shake before the scene cuts to something mundane. It becomes such an oddity to watch a film that certainly has things to say in its subtext but somehow doesn’t get around to expressing what they are.

“How to Make a Killing” releases Feb. 20 in theaters nationwide.