Vengeance movie review: Novak impresses with his directorial debut

We have a brand new film from Focus Features hitting theaters this weekend in Vengeance. I have been intrigued by the film since its debut at Tribecca Film Festival. Is the movie worth checking out? Let’s dive in.

Vengeance is about a radio host from New York who attempts to solve the murder of a girl he hooked up with. He travels south to investigate what happened to her. The film is the directorial debut of B.J. Novak, who also stars in the movie alongside Boyd Holbrook, Issa Rae and Ashton Kutcher.

As we get to know Ben (Novak), he gets a call from a man who says his girlfriend is dead. At the time of the call, Ben had someone else in his bed and had no clue what this man on the phone was talking about. However, as the conversation continued, the man suggested he come to the funeral, to which Ben was quite reluctant about going.

After the funeral, Abby’s brother Ty (Holbrook) was driving Ben back into town and Ty says that he thinks she was murdered and wants him to stay in Texas to figure out who her killer is.

What follows is Ben calling Eloise (Issa Rae), the magazine’s editor, to pitch the story of how people can’t ever cope with the idea of someone passing. After much convincing, she tells him to run with it and gather all the stuff to make this a huge story.

Vengeance is an impressive directorial debut for B.J. Novak

I don’t want to go into much detail about the film because I don’t want to give away anything about the movie. However, you have the film’s basic concept because of the plot/synopsis, but the film has this more profound meaning to it that tells the tale of a lot of the undertones of America now. From how fixated people become on words that might not be true to becoming obsessed with an idea to our inability to accept the cold, hard truth. Novak’s script is brilliant.

One of the more fascinating things about the film was the shift in tones. You start in this somewhat quirky comedy that makes fun of the surroundings and changes to something more serious that makes you begin to question what you watched an hour before. For this to be B.J. Novak’s feature film writing debut, you can’t help but be impressed with his work.

Overall, Vengeance has some flaws, but it’s one of the more fascinating films you will watch all year and more importantly, it makes you excited to see what Novak has in store for us in the future with his next project. So if you’re looking for something different to watch this weekend, I recommend checking this one out.

Vengeance is in theaters today.