Vengeance (2022 Film)

''Vengeance'' is a 2022 American black comedy film written and directed by B. J. Novak, in his directorial debut. It stars Novak, Boyd Holbrook, Dove Cameron, Issa Rae, and Ashton Kutcher. Jason Blum is a producer under his Blumhouse Productions banner, and Greg Gilreath and Adam Hendricks are producers under their Divide/Conquer banner.

''Vengeance'' had its world premiere at the Tribeca Festival on June 12, 2022, and was theatrically released in the United States on July 29, 2022, by Focus Features. It received generally favorable reviews from critics.

Plot

New York journalist Ben Manalowitz unexpectedly receives a phone call from Ty Shaw informing him that his "girlfriend" Abby Shaw (in actuality just someone Ben hooked up with), has died of an apparent drug overdose. On Ty's request, Ben flies to Texas to attend the funeral and meets Abby's family: brother Ty, mother Sharon, sisters Paris and Kansas City, younger brother known as "El Stupido", and Granny Carole. Ty informs Ben that he suspects Abby was actually murdered, adamantly maintaining that she never took drugs, and asks Ben to accompany him to find the truth and avenge her. After conferring with his podcast producer Eloise, Ben elects to aid them as part of a story about grief and denial.

Ben and Ty travel to the oil pumps to meet Ty's friend Crawl, who explains that parties often occur at the oil fields, that there is a spot just outside where the parties are normally held that is dubbed "the Afterparty", where dead bodies have been reported over time, and that there is a particular drug dealer named Sancholo who Ty suspects may have killed Abby. Ben later meets Quentin Sellers, an eccentric record producer who, like Ben, is an outsider and college-educated but has come to adopt Texas as his home. Quentin gives Ben a memory stick that has video and audio of Abby performing. Ben gets to know Abby more through these videos, learning about her family and her. He learns that "El Stupido's" real name is Mason, and about how much the family loved each other. Ben confronts Sancholo outside of a bar to discuss Abby's death, and Sancholo reveals he was in Tulsa on the night of Abby's death and reiterates Ty's belief that Abby was not a drug abuser. Ben later joins the Shaw family at a rodeo, where he accidentally draws the crowd's ire by expressing support for the Texas Longhorns, when the crowd is overwhelmingly in favor of the Texas Tech Red Raiders.

Ben speaks to law enforcement agencies in the area and learns that they each tend to shift responsibility of "the Afterparty" to another agency because it is in a spot where the jurisdictions overlap. While speaking with Eloise about the updated status of the show, Eloise informs Ben that the show will be previewed on NPR; his car then explodes. To his surprise, the whole Shaw family comes to see him and takes him to Whataburger for the first time. During dinner, Eloise tells Ben that the story is finished and to come home, much to Ben's dismay. When back inside, Granny lets slip that Abby was in fact a drug user, and that Ty had lied to Ben to try and get closer to her supposed boyfriend. Leaving the restaurant, Ben reveals that he was not close with Abby and Ty punches him in the stomach, and they leave separately.

While in bed, Mason mentions how Abby would speak in code with him, saying "1435" ("I love you mucho"). Enlightened, he uses that number to unlock Abby's phone. He sees someone else labeled "Ben" in her phone, and sees texts indicating that she was abandoned by this person. Armed with one of Ty's pistols, Ben rides with Mason to a party at the oil pumps. After learning that his car was blown up by Texas Tech fans from the rodeo, Ben meets with Ty and Quentin. When Quentin and Ben start speaking, they go back to Quentin’s tent. Ben notices numerous packaged drugs that match the description given by one of the law enforcement officers, and sees an unconscious woman being dragged out of the tent. After turning off his main recorder, Ben elicits a confession from Quentin that he caused Abby to overdose and then dragged her to the Afterparty, where she later died. Ben pulls out his phone, which recorded the entire confession, and Quentin expands upon how there is more story that will be told, about how attention will be shifted to Ben, then to Abby's family. Ben executes Quentin on the spot. Upon returning to the Shaw house, Ben reconciles with Ty and deletes his recordings, electing to keep the story between the Shaws and himself.

Cast

Production

Between 2015 and 2018, B. J. Novak, who lives in Los Angeles, California, took several trips to Texas to do research for a film he wanted to write about a blue state podcaster who travels to a red state. In March 2020, it was announced Novak would direct and star in the film, with Issa Rae, Ashton Kutcher, and Boyd Holbrook joining the cast.

Principal photography began in Albuquerque, New Mexico in March 2020, but was halted due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In January 2021, Isabella Amara joined the cast and production resumed that month. In March 2021, J. Smith-Cameron and Lio Tipton joined the cast, with Focus Features set to distribute.

Finneas O'Connell has composed the film score. Back Lot Music has released the soundtrack.

Release

''Vengeance'' premiered on June 12, 2022, at the Tribeca Festival and was theatrically released in the United States on July 29, 2022. On September 16, 2022, it was released on Peacock to stream exclusively on the platform. The film was released on Blu-ray and DVD 4 days later on September 20, 2022.

Box office

In the United States and Canada, ''Vengeance'' was released alongside ''DC League of Super-Pets'', and was projected to gross around $2 million from 998 theaters on its opening weekend. The film made $650,000 on its first day and a total of $1.8 million over the weekend, finishing 10th. ''Deadline Hollywood'' noted that while the amount was "not super," being a low-budget film that received a theatrical release would make it "more attractive and stand-out in a streaming and PVOD menu." The film fell 60% to $720,000 in its second weekend.

Critical response

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 81% of 156 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 6.9/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Writer-director-star B.J. Novak could have taken a sharper approach to this dark comedy's deeper themes, but if you're in the mood for a slyly smart mystery, ''Vengeance'' is yours." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 65 out of 100, based on 39 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale, while PostTrak gave the film a 76% overall positive score, with 57% saying they would definitely recommend it.

References

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2022 black comedy films
2022 directorial debut films
2022 thriller films
2020s comedy thriller films
2020s English-language films
American black comedy films
American comedy thriller films
Blumhouse Productions films
Film productions suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic
Films about journalists
Films produced by Jason Blum
Films set in New York City
Films set in Texas
Films shot in New Mexico
2020s American films