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BECKY (2020)
Becky poster

CAST
KEVIN JAMES
LULU WILSON
AMANDA BRUGEL
JOHN D. HICKMAN
ROBERT MAILLET
RYAN McDONALD
JAMES McDOUGALL
JOEL McHALE
ISAIAH ROCKCLIFFE

WRITTEN BY
NICK MORRIS
LANE SKYE
RUCKUS SKYE

PRODUCED BY
JORDAN BECKERMAN
JORDAN YALE LEVINE
J.D. LIFSHITZ
RAPHAEL MARGULES
RUSS POSTERNAK

DIRECTED BY
JONATHAN MILOTT
CARY MURNION

GENRE
ACTION
THRILLER

RATED
AUS:NA
UK:NA
USA:R

RUNNING TIME
93 MIN

 

Becky image

Reliant on lazy genre tropes and shock horror violence, Becky will appeal to those who like their exploitation with a real nasty streak and little else.

The latest film from filmmaker duo Jonathan Milott and Cary Murnion (Cooties) features a checklist of “hip” genre tropes: violent adolescent protagonist; neo-Nazi villains; dogs that get snuffed out for cheap emotional investment. What Becky lacks is anything close to a compelling story or characters. Everything is geared towards seeing plain-Jane butcher her next “victim”. There is nothing wrong with that, but is it hard to ask for more than cheap emotional short cuts to make its mark?

Lulu Wilson stars as the title character, a 13-year-old girl who is still reeling over the death of her mother. Full of piss and attitude, Becky makes life for her loving father (Joel McHale) that much harder when he decides to move on and marry single mum Kayla (Amanda Brugel). Before you can say “temper tantrum”, here comes the usually lovable Kevin James as neo-Nazi prison escapee Dominick. Much torture and doggy slayings follow, as Dominick and his gang search the house for a mysterious key that opens God knows what.

Like lambs to the slaughter, Becky dispatches with her assailants in grizzly fashion. And when I say “grizzly”, I mean Becky is really nasty torture porn style violence made for those salivating blood and guts. Yet while gore hounds might be satisfied, Becky has too many problems in its approach to story and character to warrant recommending it to anyone else.

Leading the list is that the films supposed heroine is incredibly unlikeable, and is portrayed by Lulu Wilson in a one-note performance, scowling like a child who just found out that she can’t have dessert after dinner, as she (literally) mows down these uber baddies with extreme prejudice. In no way does Becky prove to be a sympathetic or “heroic” character. In fact, she proves to be just as despicable as the film’s villains.

The head honcho of that group is Kevin James’ Dominick. Looking like Action Bronson and preaching like Hitler, Dominick is not so much a scary and intimidating figure, as he is a conglomerate of neo-Nazi movie stereotypes that have become beyond boring. In fact, James in ultra-heel mode seems like he should belong in a spoof-movie, which Becky is constantly in danger of becoming. Becky is a novelty movie that is ridiculous and lazy in equal measure.

 

*1/2

 

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