True crime is huge right now; podcasts are huge right now. Even fiction that merges the two is huge right now. (See the very funny series "Only Murders in the Building.") Now actor B.J. Novak makes his directorial debut with a movie called VENGEANCE, in which he also stars as a writer who stumbles into exactly the sort of crime story he wants to be famous for telling.
Trouble is, the crime is tied to his own past, and he'll have to deal with the weight of his own shortcomings in order to connect with the people involved. Maybe he can save himself in the process? Maybe it's best to start with the trailer for VENGEANCE.
"You And I Are Going to Avenge Her Death"
So, yeah. Novak's discovers that a person he "hooked up with a couple of times" might have been in love with him — or maybe she told her family stories about him for reasons of her own. Regardless, what could be more unnerving than learning these things while attending the woman's funeral?
In fact, this trailer has the answer to that question. Her brother saying that the two of you are going to avenge her death would be a lot more unnerving.
Fish Out of Water Comedy
Comedy rooted in a very specific place can be surprisingly universal. West Texas is a very specific place. Because of that, it is a perfect home for a strange fish out of water story. BJ Novak‘s character clearly has no idea what he’s doing when he stands up and shouts for Texas Tech, and you don’t have to be a local to understand how badly he screwed up even before the punchline hits.
Using that joke in the trailer is a good idea, because it also shows us that VENGEANCE is not merely taking easy shots at people from West Texas. We see that Novak, who also wrote the script, is making fun of his own character as much as — if not more than — everyone else.
Was There Even a Murder?
Perhaps the best thing about what we're seeing from VENGEANCE so far is that we don't even know if there is a murder. Maybe the crime is just, as the character suggests, a made-up theory. As a genre, True Crime hinges on the idea that there are always obscured details to discover about a person's death. At the same time, it is defined by an undercurrent of doubt. What if investigators are merely reading too much into circumstances that are undeniably bad, but perhaps not murderous? (Spoiler: Most of the time, they are actually murderous.)
VENGEANCE clearly holds that True Crime dichotomy close to its heart. It explores those ideas and more through characters who are surprisingly direct and honest. The trailer shows us Issa Rae as the editor Novak's character has to convince, while Boyd Holbrook shines as a grieving brother and Ashton Kutcher delivers an impressively persuasive turn as a powerful local.
Whether there's a murder at the heart of this story or not, we can tell that this will launch the next stage of Novak's career, this time as a director. That's a development we're eager to investigate.
VENGEANCE opens on July 29.
All images courtesy of Focus Features.