Story Over Thought

I can’t watch Glen Powell smile anymore without thinking about that “me when the TurboTax application asks if the information I’ve just entered is valid and correct” meme. The man has a legendary smirk.

However, the poster is a little misleading with How to Make a Killing, as there’s little to smile about in this largely humorless satire. Becket Redfellow (Glen Powell) is on death row for murder when we first meet him; he has murdered seven people in an attempt to lay claim to the $28-billion inheritance he otherwise never would have seen. If the poster or trailer made How to Make a Killing seem like a smarmy eat-the-rich action comedy, best leave those expectations at the door.

Director John Patton Ford is more interested in what might motivate someone to want this money so badly. When we first meet Becket in prison (most of the film is told in flashbacks), he begins his recollections by telling a priest that his story is a “tragedy.” You might think it’s tragic because he cannot spend the fortune he’s worked so hard to pry out of his family’s hands, but that’s not quite the case.

I hope that in the coming years How to Make a Killing is seen as a fitting companion piece not just to No Other Choice, but also to Marty Supreme. What makes the story a “tragedy,” as Becket so often says, is that he’s not really a killer; he’s jealous. Being rich really is “all that they say it is,” at least for a while, which keeps powering the loop of success curdling ambition into something else. At every step, Ford shows just how good Becket has it, from his caring uncle to his stable job to his loving wife. In fact, I can’t think of a single scene in the first hour where someone is personally mean to him or actively tries to keep him down—except Qualley’s character, who seems like the living embodiment of his own insecurity.

I am not implying that most critics of the film are as entitled as Becket, or that his attitude is comparable to the evil of most billionaires. But the film makes an interesting point. Many people trying to keep you down for their own sake would have familiar faces: coworkers, friends, even relatives. It’s all a matter of perspective. And though many see Becket’s story as unrelatable, I admire how the film coasts on Powell’s natural charisma until we realize he’s sympathetic but not really the good guy here. How often have we judged successful people on looks or personality while ignoring the proverbial trail of blood behind them?

It’s also interesting how so many reviews see a “dullness” in Ford’s film. Perhaps some of this comes from comparisons to the original, which I haven’t seen and can’t comment on. Personally, I like how the director isn’t interested in the sensory thrills of dreaming big (the kills are an afterthought, and the riches only briefly arrive). Like Becket, we keep having to imagine what such an inheritance will look like until it’s too late to turn back. While Marty Supreme mostly portrays domestic life as chaotic and unsatisfying—filled with nagging women and pesky babies, something someone might do anything to escape—How to Make a Killing has no problem being an ode to the simple life. It seems that’s a harder sell. 03-07-26