With just a couple films under their belt, the directing duo Jonathan Milott and Cary Murnion have delivered some solid, nasty, and small scale yet audacious genre exercises with works like the horror comedy Cooties and their extended oner political action odyssey, Bushwick. I don’t think they have made a truly great film just yet, but considering what they have made with their latest film, Becky, I think they are continuing to make interesting, engaging, and gnarly flicks that shows a sense of growth as filmmakers that might actually lead them to making something that really comes together perfectly. Becky isn’t perfect, but it’s a lot of fun.
The setup is very simple. We have Jeff (Joel McHale), who takes his moody 13 year old daughter, Becky (Lulu Wilson), still struggling to deal with the passing of her mother after quite a while, to a lake house. There, she is introduced to Kayla (Amanda Brugel), and her young son, Ty (Isaiah Rockcliffe). Jeff reveals that he and Kayla are to get married, and Becky doesn’t take to the news particularly well, so she runs off to a special hiding place in the woods by the house. Unfortunately, the house is invaded by a crew of recently escaped convicts led by Dominick (Kevin James), who is searching for a key, and will use any means necessary to get it, which forces Becky to take action.
It’s a very standard home invasion formula with a bit of a Die Hard riff, but with the key difference being that the big hero of the piece is a young, teenage girl. And despite the casting of guys like Joel McHale and Kevin James, the film is not played for laughs. There are touches of dark humor, but the overall tone is as sinister and tense as the situation would suggest. I feel like that will be the biggest appeal for most people, specifically with Kevin James, who actually does a great job as the villain. He’s a man with a plan, and he uses brutal tactics to get things done in a calm manner. It’s genuinely kind of chilling to watch. It’s a little hard to say the same for McHale, who is perfectly serviceable, but doesn’t make the same kind of impact that James does.
I want to highlight Lulu Wilson, not just because she’s fantastic here as the ferocious and haunting lead, but because she has proven time and time again that she is a major talent. It was in Ouija: Origin Of Evil where I first took notice, and her turns in Annabelle: Creation and the Netflix series, The Haunting of Hill House, further showed she had a lot of promise as she continued her career. Becky serves as her biggest star vehicle to date, one that involves a lot of rough emotional beats and stunts. She’s fantastic here, and I think what makes it work so well is that even when the script itself doesn’t seem to provide some necessary details and context, you get everything you need just from the way she moves, to her looks, and the way she inhabits her space, especially in moments where she is by herself. Even in something as junky as this, her work is earnest and human, and it really elevates the film around her.
The film, which was written by Nick Morris, and Ruckus and Lane Skye, does have a few minor hiccups, and it largely revolves the McGuffin, which is never really given a proper explanation, which I suppose might be done as a gag, since Dominick is literally about to reveal his plan at one point, but gets interrupted. Perhaps, there might have been a more graceful way to handle it because I mostly found it frustrating.
However, that’s not my biggest gripe. I question the thought put into casting Brugel and Rockcliffe (who are both very good, don’t get me wrong). It may not be the case, but this feels like a scenario where race wasn’t specified in the script/casting call, and they went with Black actors just because, which is generally fine. The problem here is that Dominick is a full blown neo-nazi, complete with a big swastika in the back of his bald head, and the dynamic between him and Kayla – who is kept as a hostage with Ty during this whole thing – is surprisingly muted. His lines and behavior doesn’t seem to suggest any change in the way he handles the situation. I’m not saying he should be throwing n-words left and right, but given how the filmmakers even included a thread involving a member of his group (played by Robert Maillet), who seems to grow disenchanted of the whole plan and actively tries to help Kayla and Becky at a couple points because he killed a couple white kids off-screen during their escape earlier in the film, and has been moody ever since. He talks about how he’s haunted by those kids and his violent past, and there is never a moment where he interrogates his hatred during these scenes with Kayla. I’m just puzzled because there could have been a compelling dynamic, but it mostly goes by unaddressed. Though, I will say that the big payoff to that guy’s journey is very, very good.
That element might affect some more than others, which is perfectly understandable, but it ultimately didn’t alter my overall enjoyment of the film. As a violent home invasion thriller, it’s engaging, it’s intense, Lulu Wilson is a stellar lead, and the gore is spectacular. While Milott and Murnion aren’t collaborating with their usual cinematographer, Lyle Vincent, they have Greta Zozula (who did wonderful work in The Half Of It earlier this year) taking the reins, and giving the film a stylish, propulsive, and grounded look. I want to also quickly bring up the eerie and pulsating score from Nima Fakhrara, who bring a very guttural sound that is filled with these riveting beats that are built on breathing sounds that are mixed with John Carpenter-esque synth riffs. The touches of how the film explores grief are nice, but if you’re looking for anything really deep, I don’t think there’s much to find, but like I said, the film is a ton of fun, and for the premise of “teenage girl fights off white supremacists in increasingly bloody ways,” the film absolutely delivers for genre fans looking to have a gnarly good time. Plus, it gives Kevin James to play against type, and I hope he keeps challenging himself and his persona because I really like what I saw him do here.
Becky will hit select theaters, drive-ins, and VOD platforms on June 5th.