GREEDY PEOPLE: Money, It’s A Crime

Independent movies aren’t on the decline, they’re just getting a little bit harder to find if you aren’t looking for them. Greedy People was a very sneaky film that I had heard a rumbling about, checked out the trailer for, and then kind of forgot existed (that part is on me). I think if this movie taught me anything it’s that if it grabbed my attention in the trailer I need to jot it down. Thirty-nine is apparently the age when I start forgetting about things that I’m excited to see. Needless to say, I ended up remembering, watching, and loving on a visceral level, this film.

Greedy People stars Himesh Patel (Yesterday, Good Grief) as officer Will and starts with his first day on the job in a new town. Uzo Aduba (Orange Is The New Black) plays the chief of police (and is absolutely fantastic as usual) who lets Will know that for the first week or so on the job he will have to be partnered up until he learns the ins and outs of the town. That’s where Joseph Gordon–Levitt (Snowden, Brick) comes in and almost instantly mucks everything up. There are only three rules to being a cop he says, one of which is “never kill anyone unless you absolutely have to, that can get messy.” So, obviously, before that first day is through, someone is dead and they find themselves in possession of one million dollars. What could possibly go wrong?

Keep Your Hands Off Of My Stack

The film was directed by Potsy Ponciroli (Old Henry) from a script by Mike Vukadinovich and shows how quickly a lie can get out of control and ruin the lives of so many people in the process. It is absolutely a comedy of errors where one thing goes ridiculously wrong after another and part of the fun of watching it all unfold is trying to figure out just what is going to go wrong next. Nothing really works out the way any of them want it to and before you can start feeling bad for any of them it makes it very clear that everything is a causality of their own actions. You want to sympathize with them but you simply can’t because if they had made different choices, none of this would be happening. It’s honestly quite beautiful.

For such a small and rural town, situated on an island cut off from the mainland, you wouldn’t expect to have more than one working hit-man and that is where you would make your first mistake. It turns out there are two there, The Colombian (played by José María Yazpik) is a very studious and serious character without a sense of humor. All he wants is his money, which was mentioned in this review a few paragraphs ago, so you can imagine that his search plays a large part in the proceedings and you would be right. It is a beautiful part full of laughs and tension, definitely not a man I would want to cross. The biggest surprise and the character they keep secret, only hinting at early in the film is The Irishman. Bringing The Irishman to life, when he is finally revealed is, Jim Gaffigan and honestly it is my favorite bit of casting. Most people only know him as the funny Hot Pocket comedian but he is so good in this, really shining for his short time on screen. I let out a little cheer when we finally saw it was him.

Four Star Day Dream

This film is absolutely gorgeous to look at- the direction, the cinematography, and the lighting, all of it mesh together to highlight the wild and always forward story that is Greedy People. I’m a sucker for soundtracks as well and this movie hits a lot of fun notes when it comes to the music. Well, unless you count Gordon-Levitt‘s characters demo that we get a few glimpses of. He recorded it all himself, he is very proud, he shouldn’t be. What I’m saying is, the sights and sounds of the movie are perfect.

The cast also brought their A-games, there are no weak links, and everyone turned in terrific performances. For me, the standouts would have to be Uzo Aduba (she is always so good) and Tim Blake Nelson. Nelson plays the town’s rich businessman (seafood) and the husband of the murdered woman who kicks off the entire story. He has the funniest line in the entire film when he is talking to the Colombian and discovers that the hit didn’t go as planned, he says “you didn’t kill her? Somebody else killed her? That’s awful.” Honestly, you could have that man read the Cheesecake Factory menu and I would be enthralled. He’s that good.

High-fidelity First-class Traveling Section

Greedy People is not a whodunnit, it’s much more of a what will happen next. The movie is like a Jack-in-the-box where someone keeps winding the crank and none of us have any idea when the little guy is going to pop out and ruin all our fun. Like all good things, though, eventually it will and when Jack made his grand appearance things went wrong very quickly for everyone involved. It was satisfying on a lot of levels for that reason. There aren’t many films that are brave enough to not have a winner and when you get to watch one it’s something of a treat. For me anyway.

This is a film worth seeing from the acting to the directing, the music, and the story. It’s been flying under the radar, I haven’t seen too many people talking about it, so do me a favor- grab a couple of friends, get some snacks, gather around the TV for a few hours, and see exactly what I’m talking about. This is one of those films that shouldn’t be missed but I’m afraid far too many people are going to unless all us good little cinephiles help spread the word.

Greedy People is available to rent on VOD.