Becky

Becky (2020)

Runtime: 93 minutes

Directed by: Jonathan Millot/Cary Murnion

Starring: Lulu Wilson, Kevin James, Joel McHale, Robert Maillet, Amanda Brugel

From: Several different companies

Yes, a dog dies here too... the whole “pet gets killed” trend is one I hope vanishes from modern movie-making.

Last year as the pandemic was raging hard and people were starved for entertainment, some sang praise for this motion picture; not only was it bizarre to see Kevin James as a killer heel, so was viewing an angsty 13 year old girl wreck adult male criminals. Earlier in the month it was available as a cheap rental on Amazon and last night was finally the time... before I go on, the reason why the titular Becky was an incredibly moody kid was not just her being a 13 year old girl. Rather, her mom died a little while ago due to an unnamed illness in a hospital-despite what I went through in 2020 concerning what happened to my mom and how it required me visiting hospitals and later hospice for weeks before she passed away... that did not negatively impact my viewing of this aside from feeling a little melancholy. No film has done that since late last July, although more than once it did hit close to him.

Anyway, she and dad go to a house that he owns in the woods. By sheer chance, James and some pals escape from prison at the same time and end up at the same location to retrieve a MacGuffin... which was truly one of a Hitchcock sort as while it was important to the bad guys, its significance was never explained and it was never critical for the audience to know specifically what it was meant for. What a surprise it was for me that James and his cohorts were all Neo-Nazi a-holes, made clear from the horrid giant tattoos they had. If this wasn't enough motivation for Becky to be pissed, bad things happen and holy cow was this even more graphically violent/gory than I had been led to believe. I mean, the most shocking moment was something I'd expect from Fulci and another over the top moment might as well have been in something like Braindead/Dead Alive, although I imagine it'd have been better lit to show off an effect that I presume was dark here for a reason.

While the movie at times is ham-fisted, it is successful at delivering what people would expect when they go into a motion picture hearing it's about a young teen girl getting the better of Neo-Nazi prison escapees in a blood-soaked action thriller. Most of this is at least competent and a big asset is that Lulu Wilson was swell as Becky. I know most are interesting in hearing how Kevin James did in such a departure from his usual. To be frank, I have never seen him in anything else as I have zero interest in such things as The King of Queens, the latest atrocious Adam Sandler production or Paul Blart; he was fine as a horrible human being who has a swastika tattooed on the back of his bald noggin.

I am just not sure if the framing device at the very beginning/very end was needed...