Directed by: John Patton Ford
Written by: John Patton Ford
Run Time: 1 hours 45 minutes
After successfully opening both Anyone But You (2023) and Twisters (2024) back-to-back, Glen Powell’s status as Hollywood’s new go-to leading man was starting to feel unshakable. However, his momentum hit a bit of a celluloid speed bump with Edgar Wright’s The Running Man (2025), a box-office flop that received mixed reviews. In this instance, the pull of Powell alone wasn’t enough to guarantee a cinematic success, but surely this was just a minor setback in an otherwise impressive run? Director John Patton Ford will certainly be hoping so, as Powell takes the lead in his latest crime thriller, How to Make a Killing.
Loosely inspired by Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949), the film follows Becket Redfellow (Glen Powell) and his journey from humble suit salesman to death row prisoner. Awaiting execution and visited by a priest offering him atonement for his sins, Becket recounts the dramatic events that have led him here. He explains that despite being estranged from his mega-rich extended family — they previously disowned his mother when she became pregnant with him — he’s still set to eventually inherit their entire estate. So after enduring a number of hardships, he decides to speed up the process by murdering the seven relatives that stand between him and the $28 billion dollar fortune.
This is the kind of a perfect, high-concept premise, that coupled with a lead as charming as Glen Powell should, well, make a killing. In principle the straightforward idea of Beckett murdering his way to his inheritance is a lot of fun, but in practice it struggles to live up to this lively potential. Amongst his targets for murder are a number of his cousins: Raff Law’s party animal Taylor, Zach Woods’ questionably talented artist Noah and Topher Grace’s celebrity pastor Steven. None of them are particularly entertaining characters, nor pose much of a challenge to Beckett. In fact he’s surprised by just how easy it is to murder them all, and this is the film’s first problem, he’s a little too good at it.
In what should be the film’s most exhilarating sequences, instead there’s a real lack of tension. His murders are neither elaborate nor exciting enough to see How to Make a Killing become worth the investment of its audience. Of course Beckett’s seven victims are stinking rich, but beyond this their personalities are rarely fleshed out, and even when they are there’s not enough fun to be had with them to make them really hateful. If the screenplay was funnier this would be easier to excuse, but it’s only amusing at best, taking its killer concept from devilishly delightful to, in places, downright dull.
The film’s closest semblance of a saving grace comes in the form of the wonderful Margaret Qualley. She plays Beckett’s childhood crush, Julia Steinway, who swans back into his life when he least expects it. She brings a diverting rich bitch energy to her character that makes her a better rival for Beckett than any of his opulent family members. Yet similarly to the rest of the film, Julia too suffers at the hands of the script, which fails to take her character as far as it should do. However, Qualley manages, more so than the rest of the cast, to at least leave somewhat of a memorable impression.
Opposite her, Powell is reliable as ever, but he’s never allowed to shine in the way that a premise like this should let him. After all, if you look sideways at all the, you know, murdering, his character isn’t all that bad. Yeah, he’s a mummy’s boy with a misplaced view of what he’s entitled to, and he’s a pretty terrible boyfriend too, but ultimately his heart’s in the right place. Maybe that’s the issue though, is Hollywood misusing him? He’s not given enough dimension here, and in never really getting to unleash his complete charm offensive either, Ford doesn’t utilise him as well as he could have. Maybe it’s time we see him as a fully-fledged villain or deliver a more deranged supporting turn, because as it stands, Powell has been put in a bit of a box, and it feels far too neatly packaged.
The same can be said of the film as a whole, and it certainly lacks the rougher, more realistic texture of his impressive debut, Emily the Criminal (2022). Admittedly this follow up does go for a more stylised take on the genre, and whilst on occasion it comes close to clicking into place, it simply lacks the rhythm that should have been easy to find considering the film’s numeric premise. Maybe there should have been a question mark at the end of the title, because unfortunately, How to Make a Killing doesn’t know how to.
Star Rating: ★ ★
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