100 Percent: Vengeance Review

In his debut as a writer and director, BJ Novak takes on small town Texas, technology, and disconnectedness. Ben Manalowitz (Novak) is a journalist for The New Yorker who spends his nights in endless, meaningless hookups. He wants to be more than a journalist, he wants to be a voice for the people, which is why he wants his own podcast. He has a theory about how technology is the root cause for all the problems in the world because it allows everyone to be on their own schedules, fostering disconnection. But as his friend and podcast director Eloise (played by Issa Rae) points out, a theory does not a podcast make. There needs to be a story, something personal to get the audience to invest emotionally. The opportunity presents itself when he gets a late night call telling him that his “girlfriend,” Abilene Shaw, someone he hooked up with a few times, is dead.

Reluctantly, Ben heads to middle of nowhere Texas for the funeral but while there her brother Ty (played by Boyd Holbrook) confides that he thinks Abilene was murdered and he thinks the two of them should find her killers and avenge her. This, Ben decides, is going to be his story. Considering that this small Texan town is about as far from technologically savvy and invested as they come, I’m not sure why this would be the story to use for his theory but Eloise agrees and so he stays in Texas for a little longer.

The strength of the story lies in the way he finds himself pleasantly surprised by various aspects of the community he assumed were backwards. The Shaw family is tight in a way he has never experienced and they welcome him into the family wholeheartedly. Somehow, this makes Ben become much more likeable, even as you know he’s using and in essence duping this family.

(SPOILERS AHEAD)

While Ben and Eloise decide that solving the story is besides the point for the podcast – the characters are all fascinating and hilarious in their own right – he does ultimately figure it out. The story culminates in an unlikely moment where Ben confronts Abilene’s killer and in the process saves another local girl from meeting the same fate as her. He picks up a gun and gets vengeance for Abilene and the Shaws after all. This moment feels unearned. He may have grown attached to the Shaws, even come to care about them and connect with them in ways he never would have expected, but enough to kill for them? It doesn’t seem likely. Perhaps if one of Abilene’s sisters had been the one in trouble it would feel more realistic, or if he’d needed to do it for self defense, but as it was the choice seemed too out of character.

ABOUT THE MOVIE

Official Synopsis: Vengeance, the directorial debut from writer and star B.J. Novak (“The Office”), is a darkly comic thriller about Ben Manalowitz, a journalist and podcaster who travels from New York City to West Texas to investigate the death of a girl he was hooking up with.

Rated: R

Starring: B. J. Novak, Boyd Holbrook, Dove Cameron, Issa Rae, and Ashton Kutcher

Directed By: B. J. Novak

Written By: B. J. Novak

Produced By: Jason Blum, Greg Gilreath, and Adam Hendricks

In Theaters: July 29, 2022

Runtime: 1 hr 48 min

Watch the trailer:

Photo: B.J. Novak as Ben Manalowitz and Boyd Holbrook as Ty Shaw in Vengeance, written and directed by B.J. Novak. Courtesy of Focus Features.