The darkly comic crime thriller “Greedy People” has made little impression at the box office nationwide since its release on August 23. But over the weekend, crowds flocked to Surf Cinemas on Long Beach Road in Southport, where “Greedy People” was filmed in 2022, to see their hometown on the big screen.
There were loud murmurs on Sunday every time a familiar Southport site came up, and there are so many beautiful shots of Southport in “Greedy People” that it almost seems like a twisted love letter to the picturesque town on the Cape Fear River.
Directed by Potsy Ponciroli (the bloody western “Old Henry”) from a screenplay by Mike Vukadinovich (“Showtime’s Kidding”), the film stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt (“Inception,” “500 Days of Summer”) and Himesh Patel (“Yesterday”) as two underachieving small-town cops who accidentally steal a million dollars in cash and use it to investigate a call in which a wealthy woman (played by porn star Traci Lords) is found dead.
But the police are not the only ones who know about the money, and soon the whole city seems to be on the (extremely clumsy) hunt for the fortune.
The impressive cast includes Lily James (“Baby Driver,” “The Iron Claw”) as the ambitious, pregnant wife of Patel’s police officer; Uzo Aduba (“Orange is the New Black,” the Wilmington-set “The Supremes at Earls’ All You Can Eat”) as a hard-nosed police supervisor; Tim Blake Nelson (“O Brother, Where Art Thou?”) as a wealthy, overwhelmed businessman; Simon Rex (“Red Rocket”) as a bicycle-riding masseur; Nina Arianda (“Midnight In Paris”) as a steely secretary; and comedian Jim Gaffigan as a wigged hitman.
Southport is set in the tiny, fictional island town of Providence, South Carolina – not in Providence, Rhode Island, as the review in film magazine Variety falsely claims, but rather, given the Southern accent and the references to Charlotte and Morehead City, more in the direction of Ocracoke on the Outer Banks.
There are numerous panoramic shots of Southport – drone shots from above, ships passing by the Cape Fear – and most of the action takes place on the city’s streets, including when Gordon-Levitt’s police officer shows a speeding ticket to an angry Southerner played by Joey Lauren Adams (“Chasing Amy”) on Bay Street.
Southport landmarks featured in the film include the Pilot Tower on Bay Street, the Old Smithville Burying Ground, the Southport City Pier, the Oak Island Lighthouse, and Potters Seafood on Yacht Basin Drive.
The wealthy film characters reside in a house on Captain Atkins Drive, while there are more modest residences on Atlantic Avenue, Caswell Street, E. West Street and E. Bay Street.
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Gordon-Levitt gets free coffee at a shop played by Lantana’s Gallery & Fine Gifts on Howe Street and gets free doughnuts at Al’s Diner in the former Trolly Stop location on Howe. The Providence police station is the International Longshoremen’s Local 1838 on 10th Street, and a few Southport restaurants and watering holes are also in on the action, including Edgewater 122, Fishy Fishy Cafe and the Mullet Bar on Yacht Basin Drive.
Key scenes take place at Southport Ace Hardware on River Road and at the Southport and Bald Head Island ferry crossings.
A few Wilmington actors show up: Fracaswell Hyman gets some good screen time as the eponymous owner of Al’s Diner, and Beth Corvino scores as a waitress.
“Greedy People” is playing at Surf Cinemas through at least Wednesday, August 28, and is also available on Prime Video, Apple TV and other services. It is not clear at this time whether the film will play in Wilmington theaters, but it does not look good.
Reviews were mixed at best, with more than one critic pointing out the film’s perhaps unintentional similarity to the works of the Coen brothers, which, like “Greedy People,” have a penchant for violence, dark humor, and the human tendency toward clumsiness. But they also highlighted the film’s strong performances and moments, if its untapped potential.
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You could almost say that Greedy People is to Southport what David Lynch’s 1986 classic Blue Velvet is to Wilmington. Both films pay homage to their respective cities while also telling stories about the darker side of human nature. But no one would mistake Greedy People for a classic, and it’s a far more conventional film than Blue Velvet.
In any case, Greedy People is entertaining and engaging and a nice addition to the films Southport has appeared in over the years.
