‘Vengeance’ Review: B.J. Novak’s Self-Referential Fish-Out-of-Water Dramedy
After watching the trailer for ‘Vengeance’ a few weeks ago, I was excited to see the culmination of B.J. Novak’s talents as an actor, screenwriter, and, now, director. I wasn’t aware of its premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival until a couple days before its screening and I didn’t have any plan to attend. However, I guess the universe had different plans for me because on the day of the premiere, my sister and I made the spontaneous decision to go. I’m so glad we did.
‘Vengeance’ follows a classic fish-out-of-water plot about a millennial metropolitan playboy writer, Ben (B.J. Novak), who finds himself in rural Texas to attend the funeral of Abeline (Lio Tipton), a girl he used to hook up with. Abeline’s family comes to the conclusion that she was murdered and turn to Ben for help. Ben sees this as a golden opportunity to use their quest to find Abaline’s “killer” as a story for a NPR-like podcast.
It hits all of the beats of a classic three-act story: 1) There is a flawed man, 2) The man enters a new environment, 3) The man leaves this environment a little less flawed. That being said, ‘Vengeance’ littered with pop culture references and the use of modern technology which make the story feels unique to our time. The screenplay drenched in nuance from Liam Neeson movie references to debates on the rules of Chekhovian theater to deciphering our cultural obsession with true crime podcasts. These little additions brilliantly set the film in the zeitgeist of 2022 without feeling like fan-fodder to a Gen Z audience.
Perhaps the most profound was the theme of what I can only call modern nihilism. Nihilism used to come from a lack of prospects: If there is nothing in my life to care about, what’s the point of anything? However, modern nihilism presents itself in the problem of abundance: If I have access to everything in life, what is the point of anything? Instead of nihilism rooted in the lack of something, ‘Vengeance’ tackles nihilism rooted in the excess of something.
This was an element of the film that I didn’t realize until I was walking out of the theater. At the premiere, co-star Dove Cameron put it best when she noted that B.J. Novak laces hard truths into film the same way that “we hide medicine in our pet’s food.” This “hard truth” left me in a haunting place (which was ironic considering the film was produced by Blumhouse). There was no answer, no moral to the story but, following the trajectory of the film, that’s pretty much the point.
Despite the many great elements in the script, there were moments that I questioned. While ‘Vengeance’ is a comedy that deals with underlying, complex themes, there are times where the script feels as though it’s handholding us through the more serious moments. What could be a 5-minute scene is done in ten, and those extra minutes tend to drag on as we anxiously await the story’s conclusion. A character will virtually say the same thing three times in a row as if to signal to the audience, “Hey! Do you get this? It’s a metaphor! A met-a-phor!”
That being said, I can’t stress how many things worked in the film. Strong performances by B.J. Novak and his amazing ensemble cast including Issa Rae and Ashton Kutcher, beautiful cinematography and editing, and a gripping score. It was polished to a degree that would have surprised me for a first-time director if B.J. Novak wasn’t already a veteran artist. ‘Vengeance’ is witty and comical, yet, it holds real weight. A film that deserves more than one watch to pick out all the bits of medicine that are hidden in our bowl.
(Originally published on June 16, 2022.)
