Too Much Murder, Not Enough Mystery
Greedy People received a 61% from Rotten Tomatoes and many glowing reviews, so I sat down to watch Greedy People with excitement and anticipation; however, I quickly found myself bored by the poor writing and overplotted story line.
Greedy People, released Aug. 23, is a comedy murder mystery film that follows a rookie police officer as he gets mixed up in a dangerous high-stakes plot, all set in a small town off the coast of South Carolina. The movie started strong, with outstanding visuals and a potent atmosphere. However, as the story progressed, the plot started to get somewhat overcomplicated, as character after character was revealed to have some hand in the plot in one way or another.
While this did keep the storyline moving, it stripped all the mystery from this murder mystery, leaving viewers with just the murder. And so much murder! By the third quarter, it seemed less of a race to solve a mystery than a race to see who could kill the others first. This style felt like it was evoking a certain Tarentino-esque feel; however, much of the violence in this movie only aided in dispersing the carefully built up tension without giving us a satisfying conclusion.
Another part of this comedy murder mystery that seems to be missing is the comedy. Seeing as this movie is marketed as a comedy, one would expect at least a few good laughs. However, much of the comedy fell rather flat when shaded against the larger story. With a few chuckle worthy lines throughout the script, the comedy is not to be completely discounted, but marketing this movie as a comedy is certainly a mistake.
One thing this film did have going for it was its actors, who, despite the script, managed to bring an unsettling realism to this movie in the best way possible. The couple at the center of the story (played by Himesh Patel and Lily James) did an especially good job sinking into their roles and making you wonder if a human really could make those decisions given the right (or wrong) circumstances. With a run time of one and a half hours, it’s a small investment, and even though I didn’t find it worth the time, that doesn’t mean you won’t.
