How to Make a Killing: Glen Powell goes American Psycho in this slick but listless ‘eat the rich’ comedy

The ‘eat-the-rich’ cinema subgenre continues to gather pace, and is it any wonder? The one per cent keep amassing wealth, and the release of some of the Epstein files has prompted only the latest flurry of news headlines implicating the upper echelons in networks of abuse and corruption. It’s hardly surprising that audiences are delighting in films about the violent destruction of the moneyed classes. One of the latest to tap into this death drive is How to Make a Killing, John Patton Ford’s fun but instantly forgettable comedy crime caper about a man intent on reclaiming his family inheritance by any means necessary.

A modern take on Robert Hamer’s masterful Ealing comedy Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949), How to Make a Killing follows Becket Redfellow (Glen Powell), a man disowned at birth by his wealthy family on account of the shame-ridden circumstances of his parentage. Determined to secure the money denied to his mother – cut off for refusing to abort him – Becket finds out as an adult that he is still in line for the family’s $28 billion inheritance, if only he can take out the competition.

Played in American Psycho mode by a hot but steely Powell, Becket acts and reacts. But in spite of a first-person voiceover, delivered from prison, the film offers limited insight into his psychology.

Cue a series of slick, zippy montages in which he finds ways to murder seven relatives in various locations (on yachts, outside corporate boardrooms) and with a number of weapons and poisons until he is caught.

The murder scenes are enjoyable to start with, though indebted to The White Lotus (2021) and the Knives Out films (2019-). But as the bodies pile up, so does the ennui. Perhaps it’s the number of murders we need to get through for Becket to successfully access the money (seven relatives is a lot) but the film starts to drag, regardless of the action scenes. Of course, we’re not meant to take any of this too seriously, but it’s hard to suspend incredulity at how easily he is able to murder in broad daylight, no matter the obvious failures of the American justice system.

Over almost two hours, we still don’t get a lot of character development, and Becket’s motivation remains surface level. Critique and parody are what keep much of the recent eat-the-rich canon – Parasite (2019), Triangle of Sadness, The Menu (both 2022) – from becoming paint-by-numbers murder sprees, but the satire here is never sharp enough. Despite an excellent turn from Margaret Qualley and one or two semi-satisfying murders, How to Make a Killing rarely manages to raise a pulse.

 ► How to Make a Killing is in UK cinemas now.