Becky (2020) — Movie Review
Directed by: Jonathan Milott, Cary Murnion. Produced by: Raphael Margules, JD Livshitz, Jordan Yale Levine, Jordan Beckerman, Russ Posternak. Screenplay: Nick Morris, Lane Skye, Ruckus Skye. Starring: Lulu Wilson, Kevin James, Joel McHale.
The plot (spoiler-free)
A thirteen year-old girl is forced to face a group of killers after they attack her family house in the woods. In order to escape, she has to kill them one by one in order to save the family (or what remains of it, anyway).
The good parts
You rarely see Kevin James outside comedy roles, but when he does drama, he absolutely nails it. I think Kevin’s acting was the best (and probably the only) positive thing about this movie.
And the grim soundtrack was cool too.
Where it went South
Everything about this movie sucked. And to be able to explain this statement, there have to be spoilers (sorry for that, but you’re not missing much — trust me!).
First, let’s look at the characters. We have a very, very angry teenage girl (Becky) who lost her mom, presumably due to cancer. Becky is grieving and this is perfectly understandable, but for some unexplained reason, she seems to really, really hate her father, her new step-family, and life in general. I wouldn’t be surprised if it turns out she hated you, the film’s viewer as well.
Now why is Becky this angry? It could help explain her motives and why she acted like a maniacal serial killer out of the blue. But we wouldn’t know, as the movie never explained it.
Next, we have the dad, Jeff. He comes across as a very calm person who is trying to make things work between his angry teenage daughter and his wife-to-be. He does his best to protect his family when the killers come in, and then he gets killed. A useless death that didn’t add anything to the plot, and didn’t give Becky any motive to fight the killers. She seemed to be motivated by the death of her dog more than she did when her father was shot before her eyes. Oh, and she decided suddenly to forget she hated her father and brought the key the killers where looking for when they threatened to kill him (before they actually did kill him).
Then we have a group of fresh prison escapees, who happen to be Neo-Nazis. They seem to be on a mission to find a certain key that unlocks something no one knows. The key was conveniently hidden in Jeff’s basement, where Becky found it some time ago and decided to keep it (and it wasn’t even shiny). No one explains who possessed the key in the first place, how and why they decided to hide it here, what secrets does the key unlock, how did the killers know about it, and why they wanted it this badly. We don’t know what motivates the group, nor what their ultimate goal is.
We don’t need to discuss Jeff’s girlfriend Kayla and her son Ty, as they were secondary devices which didn’t actually contribute anything to the plot.
Now let’s look at the plot itself.
Becky is angry for unknown reasons. Jeff is whacked for no good reason. The Neo-Nazis are hunting for a very important key, that Becky has for some unknown reason. Are you with me so far?
Now the killers kill the dad and go after Becky, but they decide to send one person at a time. The first person finds Becky in a locked fortress in the woods. She has her dog with her. He conveniently hates dogs and is afraid of them. This gives Becky the edge she needs to attack and kill him (the killer, not the dog). Now she has tasted blood and she wants more (remember she is only 13 years old!).
The second killer comes after Becky. She throws him in the lake. He — again, conveniently — cannot swim. She finishes him in the most gruesome way, driving a boat’s running motor right into his chest.
Next, the third killer comes after Becky. This guy is literally a giant acromegalic who looks like the Great Khali. He easily overpowers her and carries her back to the house. There could have been a million ways the writers could have got Becky out of his hands, but they decided to let him… repent. Seriously. The giant killing machine decided to stop killing, right there, for no good reason. Again, how convenient.
Lastly, the movie shows us how Becky, who acted as if she doesn’t remember what happened when the cops where interrogating her, actually remembers everything. Not only this, but the last thing we see before the credits roll is Becky’s face as she smiles mischievously. Why? What are we supposed to make out of this ending? Is Becky now a Neo-Nazi? Did she plan this whole thing to finish off her father? Does she know what the key does? Too many unanswered questions, and I’m afraid you won’t find the answers in the movie.
My conclusion
So what do I think of this movie? It has a very loose plot with dozens of holes, poor character build and development with no clear motives or goals, and mostly above-average acting. It sucks. It is not a good movie to waste 93 minutes of your time watching, and I give it 5/10.
