'Vengeance' can crack the case, but not its own smugness

Journalist Ben Manalowitz (BJ Novak) is living a carefree live in New York, maintaining casual relationships with several women and generally enjoying himself. However, when contacted by the brother (Boyd Holbrook) of a former hook-up with a tale that she may have been murdered in her small town in Texas, Ben sees an opportunity to pitch a podcast to his producer Eloise (Issa Rae) called 'Dead White Girl'...

For a movie that's supposed to be about the deep divides in American culture - or, more specifically, how New Yorkers are self-centred, pompous egotists and how Texans are mind-warped, ill-educated conspiratorial nutjobs - 'Vengeance' pretty much does nothing except reinforce these stereotypes. In fact, that might be the point in a sort of profound way; that neither side of America has any real grasp of the situation and it's all crumbling underneath their feet. American cultural hegemony is such that you can have a movie about a recent phenomenon - true-crime podcasts - and be absolutely certain of the fact that it's all going to be dated in the space of twelve to eighteen months. Still, 'Vengeance' is here and it's got some charm to it to make itself worthwhile.

BJ Novak, better known as Ryan the Temp/CEO of WUPHF.com from 'The US Office', is pulling triple-duty here as both writer, director and star. From his years of playing douchey smug types, he fits the role of a New York journalist with complete ease - all buttoned-down shirts and little pauses where he appreciates how marvellous his spoken prose is. When he lands in Texas, of course, the family of misfits who take him in - 'Succession' alum J. Smith-Cameron, Boyd Holbrook, Dove Cameron - are all well-meaning and gregarious, bringing him to a rodeo to experience Texan culture for the first time, and the movie switches easily to a fish-out-of-water comedy. In the next scene, however, it switches back to a murder mystery when he investigates the place where the dead body was found and discovers that it's in a place of jurisdictional overlap.

The fact that it's able to slip between these two genres is because 'Vengeance' never really commits to either of them in a significant way. It's funny, but not ha-ha funny, more of the kind of cringe-comedy that never elicits full-throated laughter. It's a murder mystery, but one that doesn't commit to it enough and then becomes a sociological experiment. Like Novak's character says repeatedly, the podcast he's making is "about America", which is just another way of saying it's about everything and nothing - like the movie.

For a debut movie, it's ambitious stuff to try and grapple with big ideas and themes, and to cross-pollinate genres that are generally overstuffed of late. The murder mystery does resolve itself in a typically complex fashion, and the ending comes with a shock and a certain edge of cynicism that speaks to a deep understanding of what makes them great. Yet, in the lead-up, there are so many banal observations and so much flat, clunky dialogue that it's a struggle to get there. You've got Ashton Kutcher as this faux-profound music producer, John Mayer of all people turns up a sleazebag New York friend for one scene, J. Smith-Cameron is criminally underused and Boyd Holbrook is far better than the role he's given to play here.

'Vengeance' isn't without some sharp observations and an intriguing cast of characters, but there are just far too many self-congratulatory moments for it to be taken seriously. In the end, 'Vengeance' sets out to become the very thing it critiques.