"I do think at a certain point you've made enough money."
President Barack Obama made that statement in 2010, long before he began stockpiling cash like Scrooge McDuck on steroids. It's a similar message we get from Hollywood. The industry loves making movies that mock the rich as undeserving of their wealth.
To twist John Houseman's classic TV line, "They didn't earn it."
Yet the industry's best and brightest enjoy wealth beyond our wildest dreams.
That hypocrisy helps explain why "How to Make a Killing" is a misfire. The 2026 flop just landed on HBO Max, giving subscribers a chance to see why. And, to make matters worse, likeable star Glen Powell may have used up his 15 minutes of fame.
Powell plays Beckett Redfellow, whose mother got pregnant at 18 and chose to have him rather than stay in her family's good graces. Said family has oodles of cash, and it excommunicated her for daring to make a life-affirming choice.
Boo! Hiss!!
Yet Becket was still a part of the Redfellow family and, we learn early on that he's in line to inherit its vast wealth - assuming he outlives seven other family members. It would be a shame if all seven met with untimely deaths, no?
Yes, that's the plot of the film, a loose remake of 1949's "Kind Hearts and Coronets" with Alec Guinness. Beckett schemes to eliminate the seven heirs and take the money that's rightfully his.
Wait ... money is good now? Confusing, no?
Naturally, the Redfellow clan is depicted as cold, conniving and selfish to the core. The family couldn't muster any sympathy even when young Beckett lost his mother at an early age.
Boo! Hiss!!
You could see where this brand of black comedy could go, on paper, but little about this "Killing" clicks as intended. The bleak humor lands a time or two, particularly via Zach Woods as a spoiled wannabe artist - "I'm the White Basquiat," he brags.
Otherwise, writer/director John Patton Ford ("Emily the Criminal") can't decide what tone he demands from one scene to the next. That leaves us with Powell, a rising star who chose poorly last year via his awful "Running Man" reboot. That film also had an "Eat the Rich" sentiment, although not as in-your-face as this "Killing."
Powell can't make his character be anything but a cipher. He's neither righteous nor evil, a middle ground that ultimately sinks the film. Why are we rooting for him again?
The great character actor Bill Camp adds texture as a fellow Redfellow who is hardly monstrous. Could his presence elevate the film and give it the depth it desperately needs? Not quite.
Along the way, we get lectures about wealth - those who say money can't buy happiness are lying, we're told. And, in case the anti-one percent messaging isn't clear, Beckett loses a menial but appealing job because the boss' son needed the gig more than he did.
Boo! Hiss!
Not all Eat-The-Rich movies are bad. The 2022 thriller "The Menu" is a delirious exception, and the set up for that year's "Triangle of Sadness" hints at greatness before the film's clunky third act.
"How to Make a Killing" also boasts a weak finale, one that tries to make a grand statement but simply crashes on impact. No wonder "Killing" belly-flopped in theaters.
