[Rating: Solid Rock Fist Up]
In Theaters Friday, August 23
Something of a cinematic wolf in sheep’s clothing, Greedy People is a low-stakes, sometimes goofy comedy of errors with aw-shucks sensibilities…until it isn’t. A story about the tangled webs people spin in the name of love and money, the movie is plot-focused yet character-driven, imbuing it with Hitchcockian vibes that serve it well. Bolstered by a stunning lead performance and a script that’s bold enough to take risks, the film doesn’t pull any punches (and lands the majority of the ones it throws).
Greedy People takes place over just a couple of days in the sleepy island town of Providence, South Carolina, where rookie cop Will (Himesh Patel) is starting his first day on the local force. Quiet, well-mannered, and wholly devoted to his very pregnant wife, Paige (Lily James), Will is partnered with the brash, coarse, and philandering Terry (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) on his inaugural shift. Terry carries himself with considerable swagger, flexing his trusted status in the community by showing Will where to get free coffees while explaining the concept of his band, “Man Riot,” on the way to the house of his married mistress.
A disturbance report happens to come in while Terry is in flagrante delicto, leading to Will taking the call on his own and…well, he sorta kills someone by accident. Terry arrives on the scene practically unzipped and in distress, knowing that the screw-up will cost both men their jobs if they’re lucky (and worse if they’re not). In fact, Terry is in such a bad state that the only thing that pulls him back from the brink is the crime scene discovery of a million dollars in cash. Terry convinces Will to stage the scene and abscond with the money, promising that if they trust each other and play their cards right, everything will resolve itself and the money will be theirs.
No spoilers here, but a masseuse, hit men, greedy lovers, the Chief of Police, and a few more besides complicate the half-assed scheming Will and Terry cook up, and it’s not long before it all starts to boil over. And while director Potsy Ponciroli sometimes has a difficult time balancing the tone of the supporting performers, Joseph Gordon-Levitt keeps everything grounded and balanced between the serious and the farcical. Terry is a dirtbag through and through, but he’s also lonely and wounded, lending the character a degree of sympathy that keeps Greedy People interesting and engaging.
Again, though, the movie struggles with its tone at times, although this almost seems to be the point. None of these people are real criminals with villainous sensibilities: they’re just idiots piling bad mistakes on top of even worse ones. And while some of the cast like JGL, Patel, James, and Uzo Aduba (the local police chief) sell this transition as gradual and believable, others don’t do as well (poor Tim Blake Nelson).
Somehow it all works, though, and at a crisp 115 minutes, Ponciroli keeps things moving fast enough that it’s hard to make out the stitches sometimes pulling at the story’s seams. The mid-Atlantic coastal setting lends to the mystery/suspense elements at play by severing the people and events from the “mainland,” which is presumably a place where things like this don’t happen as often. It also gives some credence to the eccentricities that Greedy People indulges in with characters like “The Columbian” or “The Irishman”: as if this this an isolated ecosystem where weird, Galapagos-level divergences from the known world are allowable.
JGL is the MVP, though, and gives the movie all the propulsive force it needs to work its way through the catacomb of deceit that props up the second and third acts. None of the story’s wild turns work without a full buy-in on Terry, and as things spiral further and further out of control, JGL’s exploration of the damaged and desperate cop keeps the story’s narrative and thematic elements glued together.
With a script that’s serving Nancy Meyers vibes with a healthy dose of Cormac McCarthy mixed in for flavor, a strong lead at the top, and efficient directing to keep the story moving, Greedy People does alright for itself in spite of a seeming mix of tones and genres. Fearless in the back half, and with a deep bench of acting talent to lend this wacky, gory story a surplus of bona fides, Ponciroli and company have a lot of fun with this concept, town, and group of people (though the indulgences never swerve into anything resembling what one might call “greedy”).
“Obvious Child” is the debut novel of Warren Cantrell, a film and music critic based out of Seattle, Washington. Mr. Cantrell has covered the Sundance and Seattle International Film Festivals, and provides regular dispatches for Scene-Stealers and The Playlist. Warren holds a B.A. and M.A. in History, and his hobbies include bourbon drinking, novel writing, and full-contact kickboxing.
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