Oh my God, Becky, look at this movie. It is so mediocre. It looks like one of those good movies, but, you know, it’s not. Becky (2020) tells the story of the titular hero, Becky (Lulu Wilson), a thirteen year old girl at a cabin in the woods with her dad, Jeff (Joel McHale), her dad’s girlfriend, Kayla (Amanda Brugel), and the girlfriend’s young kid, Ty (Isaiah Rockcliffe), when four convicts escape from a prison and come knocking on the door in search of a special, magical key. Who knows when or how it got there? Who knows what the key does? Becky doesn’t concern itself about the answers, it just keeps on trucking without any concern for whether or not you’re following along.
Becky is definitely not a fun movie, nor would I say it’s a particularly good film- and yet I was intrigued enough to watch the entire film. It’s sad and unsettling to see a thirteen year old be traumatized into such violence, and yet you want to stick around to see exactly how a tiny kid is going to kill these four Neo-Nazi, dog-murdering convicts. Yes, these guys murder a dog in the movie. And children. Neo-Nazi, dog-murdering, child-murdering villains. Normally with such easy to hate bad guys, you’d be rooting for them to get their asses handed to them like they’re the big bad at the end of a Shonen story arc and our hero’s just discovered a new form. But the villains are infused with such little life you’ll just be rooting for them to get off the screen. Even experienced (though not necessarily skilled) actor Kevin James can’t infuse anything menacing or interesting into their Neo-Nazi leader. Turns out it takes more than just tattoos and foul language to make an interesting villain. He and the other convict characters try to be spicy bad guy gumbo but end up being more like unseasoned grits.
The other characters barely fare any better. Joel McHale, who is terrific at playing hilariously smarmy jackasses, doesn’t really click as the resident dad Jeff. He and Becky lack chemistry, as do Jeff and Kayla, as do Kayla and Ty, as does Becky with everyone. You’d think this was a science class with a half-assed substitute teacher with how little chemistry there was!
The action and kills are gory, violent, and, at times, interesting. They’re also quite disturbing at the hands of a thirteen-year-old. Like, it wasn’t fun seeing Becky kick ass a la Hitgirl in Kickass. I mostly wished she’d get some mental help.
Becky merits neither recommendation nor condemnation. I didn’t particularly enjoy it, nor am I angry I watched it. The action comes slow but when it happens it goes hard on the gore. The lack of cast chemistry and plot cohesion makes most of the movie feel like the aforementioned bowl of grits- you’ll eat it if it’s the only option but won’t particularly enjoy it.
Action Rating: 1 Bowl of Grits, out of 5
Disclaimer: Just because I am the Action Flick Chick and love action movies does not mean I condone real life violence in any way. Everyone has their own shit to deal with, be nice to each other.
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