At a certain point, Greedy people becomes as frustrating as the characters it follows. The Lionsgate film starts out as a small-town comedy with a suitably quirky cast, but then races beyond the level of a black comedy and becomes just plain dark and unsatisfying. Consider it as Happy, Texas at a drinking party or a Coen brothers film on steroids.

The film follows Will Shelley, a cop who has just moved to Providence with his pregnant wife, Paige. Unprepared for his new job, he makes a terrible mistake on his first day that leads to a woman’s death – and is convinced by his libertine partner, Terry Brogan, to cover up the mistake and accept the million dollars found in her house. From that point on, Mike Vukadinovich’s script hits every expected plot point before drifting off in a new direction and the actors getting lost in the shuffle.

Greedy people want to be more than they are

The film suffers from its tone changes

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Greedy peopleThe biggest problem with is that it feels like two different movies – and neither of them is particularly good. It seems like Vukadinovich is trying to show audiences how clever he is by moving the film away from comedy and turning sharply into a thriller in the final act, as if to say, “This is what’s been happening all along,” but the project would honestly be better if it had chosen one direction and stuck with it. Small-town comedies and crime comedies can be done really well, and this film definitely has the cast to do it. The supporting cast includes comedian Jim Gaffigan and the highly underrated Tim Blake Nelson, while Joseph Gordon-Levitt gives himself fully to the role of Terry. There’s a laugh-out-loud moment when he gets randomly outraged at a wrong-way.

Small-town comedies with quirky characters can be successful if the characters have something about them that is worth rooting for and their quirks are actually funny. Happy, Texas is an example of this, because although the characters were crudely drawn, they still had real charisma, such as the way William H. Macy played Sheriff Chappy Dent. In contrast, the players in Greedy people never develop beyond their general validity. Even Will and Paige – the protagonists played by Himesh Patel and Lily James – come back together after their leading roles in the alternate universe film Yesterday – are just the wide-eyed newcomers in town. The characters behave as expected and the jokes are slightly predictable, although some of them just aren’t that funny. At times, the script seems to rely on swear words to spice up its humor.

But the film devolves from a crazy story where everyone is double-crossing everyone else to something much darker, starting with the death of Will and Paige’s dog Bailey, which is meant to mark the tone shift but will likely only anger animal lovers. The film becomes too dark for its own good, both literally and figuratively, as Vukadinovich ties up loose ends – mostly by killing off characters. Nobody expects people in a movie called Greedy people as saints, and yet no one is left, giving the audience reason to care whether they survive or not. The film is about terrible people doing terrible things to each other, and even turns Paige into a self-centered wreck. Vukodinovich’s argument is that the stolen money has corrupted everyone… but the audience can see that intent long before the end. The Coen brothers may be able to mix comedy, crime, and violence with aplomb, but their films have more heart.

The cast of Greedy People gives their best

Several actors are not used sufficiently

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Within the confines of the script, the cast of Greedy people does his best to deliver. Patel is a solid everyman whose relatively calm nature is meant to contrast with Gordon-Levitt’s constant energy, but that sometimes makes him seem like to calm. One of his best scenes is after Will accidentally kills Virginia Chetlo and understandably freaks out about it; it’s an opportunity to see Patel really on the edge. James doesn’t really get things going until the final act, where she gets to show a more desperate and angry side to Will’s faithful wife, but that pales in comparison to what she does in Pam and Tommy or even better the National Theatre production of All about EvaEven when Paige is the most reckless, she still misses something.

The citizens of Providence are sometimes good, sometimes bad. The character with the strongest story arc is Chief Murphy, played by Orange is the new black Star Uzo Aduba, who frames the film. But much of Murphy’s actions are a reaction to everyone else’s craziness. The idea of ​​Jim Gaffigan as a mild-mannered assassin is great – but his character, known only as The Irishman, has only one substantive dialogue scene after more than an hour in the film. At least his fight scene with Gordon-Levitt is unforgettable. The Irishman’s rival The Colombian is played by Narcos: Mexico Alumnus Jose Maria Yazpik, who still has a lot to do and has some lines that make you smile.

Greedy peopleThe main role belongs to Joseph Gordon-Levitt. He plays Terry constantly at full speed, whether as the stereotype of the ruthless cop or when Terry goes completely off the rails. His performance is like a bizarre version of his role in Beverly Hills Cop: Axel Fbecause Terry should never have received such an award – in fact, he has no positive qualities whatsoever. But Gordon-Levitt puts his heart into it, and this film reminds audiences that the actor is adept at both comedy and drama. If the audience takes anything away, it is further recognition of his talent and fearlessness.

Is “Greedy People” a film worth seeing?

Fans of Joseph Gordon-Levitt will enjoy it

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Moviegoers who are fans of Joseph Gordon-Levitt should not miss Greedy people to see what he does in the role of Terry. For everyone else, though, it depends on how much you like the rest of the cast – because the actors are the best reason to watch this film. The film doesn’t mix genres as well as it would like, and as a result, neither the comedy nor the thriller aspect really takes off.

It’s easy to see what kind of film Vukadinovich wanted to make, and director Potsy Ponciroli does a good job of visually realizing that vision, with the exception of the final portions of the film, which are predictably set at night in a massive storm. And this cast, if given more to work with, could certainly pull off this film. But Greedy people is ruined by its heavy-handed lines, a tone shift that doesn’t work, and jokes that don’t land. If the film had been a thriller from the start, it would have worked, or a wacky comedy to the end. But it tries to be both and fails at what matters most: connecting with the audience.

Horrible things can have humor, and not every film character has to be sympathetic. But the ensemble of characters that Greedy people are first too archetypal to be interesting, and then just too miserable for the audience to care. It doesn’t matter that people die or betray each other, because the audience has no reason to root for them to survive or succeed. The only people to root for are Captain Murphy and the baby, and at least in that respect Greedy people finds a certain satisfaction. There just aren’t enough of them to make it worth going to the cinema for.

“Greedy People” will be released in theaters and digitally on August 23, 2024 from Lionsgate.