Review | ‘Vengeance’ is a startlingly good first film from B.J. Novak

Novak additionally stars right here, as journalist Ben Manalowitz, a someday New Yorker journal author and podcaster for the “This American Life”-esque “American Second,” with a Manhattan-centric view of flyover nation to rival the geographic myopia satirized by illustrator Saul Steinberg in his well-known 1976 cowl for that journal, “View of the World From ninth Avenue.” When Ben will get a name from the brother of Abby Shaw — an aspiring singer Ben “attached” with a couple of instances, in his phrases — telling him that she has died of an overdose of OxyContin and insisting — inexplicably to Ben — that Abby (brief for Abilene) would have needed her “boyfriend” to attend the funeral, he’s given no alternative however to agree. As soon as Ben reluctantly flies out to West Texas and the brother, Ty (Boyd Holbrook), informs Ben that he believes Abby’s dying was homicide and that the 2 of them ought to collaborate to avenge it, violently, Ben hits upon an thought, however solely after pitching it to his podcast editor again dwelling (Issa Rae).

Ben will do some interviews and put collectively a narrative: maybe not the type of investigative exposé Ty expects, however one that appears at Texas, and Abby (Lio Tipton, seen in cellphone video clips and recorded music performances), as signs of a deeper malaise. Ty calls that an appropriate compromise. “As soon as the individuals on Reddit discover out” who the assassin is, he says, “they’ll kill him for us.” However all that Ben has actually promised, in his cagey means, is that this: to seek out the individual — or, as he rigorously places it, “the generalized societal pressure” — accountable for Abby’s dying, and to “outline” it.

It’s a slippery vow, and it suggests, for apparent causes, that what follows goes to contain an unfairly patronizing caricature of rural American life and the Shaws, together with Granny Carole (Louanne Stephens), mother Sharon (J. Smith-Cameron), sisters Paris and Kansas Metropolis (Isabella Amara and Dove Cameron), and little brother Mason, a.ok.a. El Stupido (Eli Abrams Bickel).

However Novak is just too good for that, and if anybody comes throughout badly right here, it’s Ben, whom Novak is large enough and self-effacing sufficient to softly ridicule. The supporting solid will get off comparatively simple, and features a exceptional efficiency by Ashton Kutcher as Abby’s slick and silver-tongued report producer, Quentin Sellers. Quentin is a type of cowboy poet/thinker in a 10-gallon hat and embroidered white go well with that appears like one thing made by the late tailor-to-the-country-western-stars Nudie Cohn. Below Novak’s low-key route, Kutcher by no means pushes the efficiency too far. Just like the narrative itself, which zigs while you anticipate it to zag, Quentin is filled with surprises.

Superficially, “Vengeance” is a homicide thriller, with its share of pink herrings, a password-protected cellphone belonging to the sufferer and a Suspect No. 1: drug supplier Sancholo (Zach Villa), who additionally seems to be one thing apart from anticipated.

If “Vengeance” has a weak spot, it’s that it typically comes throughout as just a little too written, for lack of a greater phrase. Too usually, characters speak in a means that sounds much less like themselves than like a man on the keyboard of a laptop computer: just a little bit Ben Manalowitz and just a little bit B.J. Novak.

It’s a small quibble. This can be a film price seeing, and listening to its unpredictable insights. There’s a operating joke within the movie: Ben indicators his assent, time and again, with the hyperbolic catchphrase “100%.” Is “Vengeance” a flawless film? No, nevertheless it’s 90 p.c good.

R. At space theaters. Comprises coarse language, drug use and temporary violence. 107 minutes.