Movie Review: Becky

Becky ** ½ / *****
Directed by: Jonathan Milott and Cary Murnion.
Written by: Nick Morris and Ruckus Skye & Lane Skye.
Starring: Lulu Wilson (Becky), Kevin James (Dominick), Joel McHale (Jeff), Robert Maillet (Apex), Amanda Brugel (Kayla), Isaiah Rockcliffe (Ty), Ryan McDonald (Cole), James McDougall (Hammond), Leslie Adlam (Ms. Hancher). 

Sooner or later, every comedic actor wants to try their hand at something more serious – to get people to see them in a different light. If nothing else, Becky has lovable lunk Kevin James attempting to play an evil, violent neo-Nazi, which is about as far away from his King of Queens, Paul Blart, Adam Sandler-supporting player roles that he has done up to now as possible. Or, at least it should be, but I’m not sure James really does have the range to pull it off. He never really comes across as all that menacing here – which is odd given his shaved head, racist rhetoric and tattoos, and the fact that he basically spends the whole movie trying to kill a teenage girl. He always just seems to be lovable Kevin James dressing up as a bad guy.

Luckily for the movie, young Lulu Wilson – who has been quite good in films like Ouija Origin of Evil, Annabelle: Creation and the TV show Sharp Objects, more than makes up for his deficiencies as the title character – a kick ass teenage girl who finds when push comes to shove, she can shove – and hard. So hard in fact that by the end, you may feel like you’ve just witnesses the origin story of a violent psychopath – even if she is the hero of the film.

The film is basically another take on the home invasion genre. Young Becky and her father, Jeff (Joel McHale), head up to their cabin for a vacation – a brief respite for the grief Becky still feels for her mother who passes away. Things are already tense because Jeff didn’t reveal that he was also inviting his fiancé, Kayla (Amanda Brugel) and her young son to join them. And then a group of escaped, neo-Nazi convicts, led by James’ Dominick, show up because they want something from the house. To be honest, I’m still not quite sure what, or how it got there, or how these Nazis knew it was there, etc. – but it doesn’t really matter. It’s a classic MacGuffin – it doesn’t matter what it is, just that everyone wants it. Soon, it’s pretty much just Becky fighting off these men – picking them off one-by-one in increasingly over-the-top, bloody ways.

I liked Wilson quite a bit in this movie – it’s the type of performance that can easily go wrong, because you either take it too seriously, and thus throw off the exploitation vibe of the movie, or you go too far over the top, and look goofy. She straddles that line well though – and even if, at first, you question how a teenage girl as small as Becky pulls it off, you don’t for long. She sells you on Becky’s determination and ruthlessness. She could have just been a grim joke of a little girl committing violence – but the film at least explores the implications of it all – a little anyways.

The film though never really lives up to her performance. Maybe it’s James’ lack of intimidation, maybe it’s McHale, who I have a tough time believing is ever acting sincere, or maybe it’s just the violence itself is a little too goofy to really hurt (except for the very last, sudden killing – which hits the exact note I wish the rest of the film did). The film does shows what Wilson can do – and I cannot wait to see her in something better.