Greedy People review
Greedy People is proof the dark comedy genre isn’t dead. It just needs a captivating premise, a script with logical twists, dialed-in directing and an excellent cast.
Will (Himesh Patel, Tenet) is bracing for his first day at the Providence police department. It’s an exciting time for Will as he and his very pregnant wife, Paige (Lily James, The Iron Claw), have just moved to the area and are busy unboxing. Will is hoping to make a good impression on the sheriff, Murphy (Uzo Aduba, Beats).
Unfortunately for Will, he’s been paired with the department’s least professional officer Terry (Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F). Terry encourages Will to take up a hobby to kill time during the slow shifts, goes to local restaurants for free food and coffee and meets up with his married girlfriend for an afternoon quickie.
The latter proves a problem for Will, when Terry is so preoccupied he misses a call for a burglary. Deciding to go it alone, Will gets into a sticky situation where a woman ends up dead. And there’s a basket with $1 million in it.
Recognizing the mess they’re both in, Terry works out an elaborate cover story that seems like it could work. Provided he and Will can safely store the money without anyone knowing about it. If they can manage to keep the secret to themselves…
Naturally that can’t happen, triggering an entirely different set of problems that ultimately leads to a lot of problems and more dead bodies. Screenwriter Mike Vukadinovich (Runaways) establishes an elaborate butterfly effect where if one conversation weren’t held things would have turned out much differently for a number of characters.
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Director Potsy Ponciroli (Old Henry) uses chapter breaks as a smartly focused means to introduce more characters to Greedy People. There’s the widow (Tim Blake Nelson), his secretary (Nina Arianda), a masseur (Simon Rex) who overshares with his mother (Neva Howell) and two hitmen (Jiff Gaffigan and José María Yazpik).
Vukadinovich doesn’t necessarily sell the idea of the characters being particularly greedy. Most of them have legitimate reasons for wanting/needing the money beyond just blowing it on lavish trips, cars and houses. If anything, they’re practically greedy. That helps to make them more relatable and their actions far more understandable. To an extent.
Greedy People is a very loud reminder that Gordon-Levitt is a heck of a performer. He plays the hot and cold Terry like a light switch where he’s cool and calm one minute and then going off the next. Ponciroli does a fantastic job of providing spotlight moments for all of the cast, but Gordon-Levitt’s shines brightest.
If Greedy People had less of a dark edge, watching Gordon-Levitt and Patel pal around as a pair of mismatched partners would also have been terrific. The two play off each other very well almost to the point of making it harder to believe Will and Terry just met each other when the film starts.
Patel and James also have a nice, believable chemistry as a couple worried the dream they’ve worked so hard to achieve could turn into a nightmare. James has some especially strong moments in the second half as she is far less trusting of Terry and his motives. Those suspicions aren’t helped by some bad information she learns along the way. Nelson and Arianda don’t have as much screen time but are a fun pair.
Given the larger ensemble, Vukadinovich has to take a cold approach when it comes to taking out some characters. With one exception, by the end it’s hard to argue that the victims didn’t do something to warrant their fate.
Ponciroli utilizes some creative camera angles to tell the story like the wide shot showing the mainland ferry in the background as Terry is targeting speeders with his radar gun. Another well-staged sequence has Ponciroli position the camera outside while a fight between two characters plays out on a boathouse.
Greedy People is a smartly executed film with some welcome twists and excellent performances. It might not get the buzz of some other high profile films, but it’s one of my favorites for 2024.
Rating: 9 out of 10
Photo Credit: Lionsgate
Check out Greedy People now on Amazon Prime.
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