The interesting, and oddly titled new film comedy “Vengeance” is so close to working. And yet so far away. Director/writer/star B.J. Novak gets himself into trouble early by suggesting that folks who don’t live in New York City are nutty rubes. And that those who do are cynics.
Entertainment business guys from NYC frequently seem given to believing stereotypes and slurs about Americans who live elsewhere. Moviegoers may, for example, remember Woody Allen’s character’s trip to the upper Midwest to meet Annie Hall’s family. Granny was a cartoon anti-Semite and brother (played by Christopher Walken) talked philosophically about turning his car in front of on-coming traffic.
Some movie-goers will find it impossible not to compare Novak’s character — a “podcaster” picking up colorful copy — and Allen’s Alvie Singer. Both of them live isolated in their home city and their profession. Each dates a girl from outside of their circle. Both of them talk in abstractions and almost useless generalizations that may be recognized as “philosophic.”
But Novak’s Ben Manalovitz is a low-life compared to Alvie, who is actually looking for love. Ben is just bedding as many women as he can. One, a Texan named Abilene, moves back home, makes a couple of music recordings as a local studio, and is found dead by the side of a back road.
Her quirky family, apparently thinking Ben was a fixture in Abilene’s life, invites him for the funeral and to stay with them. Her brother believes she was murdered and expects Ben to have the skill to identify the killer.
Sound like the premise of a comedy movie? Well, the portrayal of Texas — dusty, full of oil wells and conspiracy theorists, and with utterly incompetent law enforcement — is painted in really broad strokes.
Then there’s the problem of the record producer. Ashton Kutcher plays the part. He gives pep talks to singers and tries to suggest a theory of life to Ben. But his dialog is just like the dialog all the characters get. Here’s another way in which Novak’s picture is like “Annie Hall.”
Kutcher’s character, though, gets special treatment. He is not another Texas bozo. So what is he doing here? And why is a modestly serious record guy important enough to the plot that he gets so much emphasis in the course of events?
Ben goes along interviewing people about Texas and about Abilene’s life. He sends recorded conversations back to his “producer” in New York, and the movie is replete with telephonic conversations between the two of them. The woman supervising his podcast says Ben is getting great material. Other podcasters are said to be interesting in running excerpts of his audio snippets.
Meanwhile Ben is finding a false ending to his “story.” Then he moves on to the real climax, which is certainly dramatic. Whether or not the story has prepared viewers for it is another question.
And, then, one must also ask if the “Vengeance” we get is sufficiently funny to make seeing it worth two hours. Too many of the jokes are: “see the yokel Texans eating at Whataburger? Isn’t that a hoot? That idiot says he likes Texas while he’s at a rodeo in Tech country. Ha ha!”
But at least Novak, an alum of the U.S. “The Office” series, manages to get the story told. And there is one regionally funny line in the script. His character’s Prius is blown up by a bomb (for reasons never given in the film). One of the Texans, imagining worse carnage, says, “What if you were driving a real car?”
