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B.J. Novak’s directorial debut ‘Vengeance’ a smart social satire
By Katie Walsh
Tribune News Service
B.J. Novak opens his debut feature
“Vengeance,” which he wrote, directed
and stars in, with a scene of acidic social
commentary that lays the tone for the
smart satire of contemporary media cul-
ture that ensues.
In a scene that targets the mating ritu-
als of the urban-dwelling modern Amer-
ican cad, interspersed into the opening
credits with an almost jarring violence,
Ben (Novak), a writer for The New Yorker,
and the unlikely, sometimes unlikeable,
hero of “Vengeance,” parries back and
forth with his friend John (played by
singer John Mayer) about their vapid
dating lives.
As they debate the merits of seeing
six women or three, question whether a
cellphone contact labeled “Brunette Ran-
dom House Party” refers to a woman met
at a publishing event or a just a “random
house party,” and falsely declare that
they’re not afraid of emotional intimacy,
Novak does something important with his
character: he makes him a buff oon, fi rst
and foremost, in this bracing setup that
allows him to carefully thread the needle
on his American tale.
In “Vengeance,” Novak sets his sights
on lampooning the big city media types
who go chasing stories in middle America
and return with observations from the
“fl yover states” that are usually conde-
scending, preachy or inauthentic, and in
doing so, he fi nds the humor, and some-
thing honest too.
Ben ends up in small-town Texas
thanks to one of his numerous hookups.
The family of aspiring musician Abilene
(Lio Tipton), who has met a tragic end in
what appears to be an accidental over-
dose death, is convinced that Ben was
her serious boyfriend, and implores him
to come to her funeral. When Abilene’s
brother, Ty (Boyd Holbrook), insists that
his sister was murdered, and enlists Ben
in his quest for revenge, his journalist ears
perk up — this would be a great podcast.
He quickly pitches it to a producer back
in New York, Eloise (Issa Rae), and
equipped with some Amazon fl annel and
the Voice Memos app, he sets out to tell
the tale of a dead white girl, and of course,
of America itself.
The way in which Ben fi nds himself
embroiled in the mystery swirling around
a stranger’s death is reminiscent of the
Serial podcast “S-Town,” and it’s clear that
Novak knows this genre of “prestige jour-
nalism” well: when Ben speaks, even as
we know we’re supposed to chuckle at his
purple descriptions of the Texas sunset,
he nails the style and cadence, the slick
language of a media-savvy writer. It’s fun-
B.J. Novak
stars as Ben
Manalowitz in
“Vengeance,”
a Texas-set
fi lm he also
wrote and
directed.
Focus Features/
TNS
ny, but it’s also insightful too. Ben’s work
passes muster, which lend’s Novak’s fi lm
merit, and another layer to the complexity
of this movie.
“Vengeance” is fast and loose, moving
quickly, the punchlines only landing before
we’re on to the next joke. The fantastic
ensemble cast, including J. Smith-Cam-
eron and Ashton Kutcher make meals out
of their dialogue, and though some of the
plot’s twists and turns are a bit facile, and
too heightened, it serves the mystery that
churns the story along.
In “Vengeance,” Novak’s linguistic
blade is simultaneously incisive and
skewering. He indicts Ben’s pretension
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and the craven way he seeks to extract
Abilene’s story for his own gain, inspect-
ing the media’s role in the “culture wars,”
and the socially constructed divisions in
our country. But the fi lm manages to land
somewhere between sour and sincere, as
Ben makes meaningful connections with
both Abi’s family, and Abi’s story, fi nding
the heart after all. As Ben does, so does
Novak, unearthing some profound truths,
wrapped in comedy, about America right
now, too.
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