VENGEANCE (B) - This one loses at least half a grade for a forced, implausible ending that undercuts an otherwise smart culture-clash comedy from B.J. Novak. He writes, directs and stars as Ben, an urban NPR elitist who believes he has stumbled on the podcast that will make a mark -- a classic dead-white-girl mystery.
The dead girl is Abilene, a Texas innocent with whom he had a few romps in bed when she was visiting New York. Her family is convinced that the two were in a committed long-distant relationship, and so he finds his way out to the dusty roads of Texas to commune with the woman's stereotypical gun-loving, shit-kicking kin. Abilene's brother is determined to avenge his sister's death, which he is convinced was murder rather than an accidental drug overdose.
Novak walks a tightrope between insightful parody and cruel stereotyping, and his earnestness as both a performer and a filmmaker allows him to mostly pull it off. The writing is the key here. Novak has clever ideas and a way with a self-deprecating zinger or droll observations that capture the zeitgeist. He has great rapport with his editor back east, played with both verve and deadpan line readings by Issa Rae, who energizes the screen.
Novak also knows how to craft a riveting narrative, and we gladly follow him down the rabbit hole of good-ol'-boy culture. Ashton Kutcher shows up as a philosophizing drug dealer, a character meant to rescue the reputation of the entire small town and its idiosyncratic dimwits. It's a role that in the past would go to Burt Reynolds or John Travolta, and while Kutcher gives it his all, you can't help seeing a man positioning himself for the quirky middle-age phase of his acting career.
Nonetheless, the story zips along and entertains. But it begins to get repetitive in the final reel. And in the last five minutes or so it completely unravels, with several left-field plot twists, one more improbable than the next. It is a hugely disappointing denouement that can make a viewer feel cheated and a bit of a sucker (a rube?) for trusting Novak with his slick story.
THE FUNNY PAGES (B) - This impressive feature debut chronicles a few jangled days in the life of a high school senior determined to quit school and pursue his passion of comic-book art.
Daniel Zolghadri is fantastic as Robert, who bickers with his parents, is annoyed by his best friend, and craves to be a player in the comic-book world. The opening scene involves an awkward moment with his art teacher, and later Robert will meet a deranged character who happens to have had a cup of coffee with one of the iconic comic-book publishers as an assistant to the colorist. Character actor Matthew Maher is wonderfully creepy as Wallace, the object of Robert's obsession.
Writer-director Owen Kline (Kevin's kid, who played the little brother in "The Squid and the Whale") draws precise characterizations and his dialogue, sometimes realistically disjointed, has a fine cadence (when someone tells Robert that his car "is smoking," he beams, not realizing that the person was speaking literally about the junk heap). The scenes are enhanced, it seems, by some quality improv, especially by the parents, played by Josh Pais and Maria Dizzia. The supporting cast includes a lot of unique-looking actors who didn't pass through central casting but instead organically inhabit the grubby world of nerd culture. That includes a ghoulish cameo by Louise Lasser as a drug-seeking old crow.
However, in the end, the story is thin, and it never feels like anything important is at stake, or whether Robert truly believes in the sanctity of art. It too often feels like a poor stepchild of "Ghost World" and "American Splendor," the previous generation's oddball dramedies that had more depth.
BONUS TRACKS
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