Review: ‘Greedy People’ Really Wants to be a Coen Brothers Film When it Grows Up

By Melanie Fischer | Film | August 29, 2024 |

You know that perennial joke about how they should include a normal person as a point of comparison in various Olympic events? The new film Greedy People is basically that gag, but for filmmaking instead of athleticism. Directed by Potsy Ponciroli (Old Henry) from a script by Michael Vukadinovich (Kidding, Runaways), Greedy People centers a pair of stunningly incompetent cops, Terry (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) and Will (Himesh Patel), who pratfall into a criminal conspiracy while trying to cover up their involvement in an accidental death.

The film also really, really, really wants to be a Coen brothers crime comedy. And to be clear, it’s an understandable goal. Movies like Fargo and The Big Lebowski have well earned their place in the cinematic canon. Also, it does feel like there’s an opening; there hasn’t been a great pitch-dark crime comedy in a minute, even from the OGs themselves. Since creatively parting ways with his brother, Ethan Coen has made further efforts in the genre, but last year’s Drive-Away Dolls—which he directed and co-wrote with his wife, Tricia Cooke—is, at best, a faint echo of former glory.

So, the goal is obvious, and it also makes sense. This sounds like a very low bar to clear, and indeed, it should be. However, consider the number of films that have come out in recent years that beg the question, who is this even supposed to be for? Yeah. So, unfortunately, this does rank as an achievement worth acknowledging: kudos for not being entirely off-base. Moving on.

The terrible condition that Greedy People suffers is a far less baffling one: it simply is not good. The story, when considered in the broadest strokes, has the potential to work. It’s a classic ensemble crime comedy of errors. Odd-couple cop duo Terry and Will, who are equally inept just in very different ways, blunder their way into an accident that causes the death of a civilian, unknowingly interfering with a premeditated murder, and their cover-up efforts quickly snowball into a mess that embroils the whole small island community of Providence, South Carolina. The rest of the ensemble cast includes seafood magnate and richest man in town Wallace Chetlo (Tim Blake Nelson, deserves better); his, shall we say, exacting wife Virginia (Traci Lords); and two rival hitmen known just as “The Colombian” (José María Yazpik) and “The Irishman” (Jim Gaffigan, did you really have nothing better to do?), among others.

Ironically, the most intriguing aspect of Greedy People is what makes it such dull viewing—there aren’t actually any major mechanical failures here, just creative ones. Yes, the plot is highly derivative, but that’s not inherently a dealbreaker. The problem is that the film lacks the kind of wit and verve that can make pastiche entertaining and memorable, when done correctly.

For archetypes and tropes to work, you have to play with them. In Fargo, Marge Gunderson is such an iconic protagonist because she’s a pregnant lady brimming with Midwestern politeness and also a badass, no nonsense police chief. It’s the combination of disparate elements, the juxtaposition, that makes her dynamic. There are no such innovations to be found here. Greedy People knows what it wants to be; its inspirations are glaringly obvious. But it lacks the understanding and artistry to properly realize any of these goals. The dialogue is lackluster, the characters are too archetypal to feel realistic yet too restrained to be entertainingly bonkers, the jokes are, to put it kindly, crusty. It’s also a major miss on tone, for which the writing and direction feel equally responsible. The look and feel of this film is so generic it’s hard to comment on Ponciroli’s direction. It gives nothing, like a sensory deprivation chamber.

This kind of dark comedy can work if you have at least some characters who are still likable, even if deeply flawed, or, if you have characters that are so outlandishly awful that watching them wreck each other and themselves becomes a joyous experience. As the title somewhat suggests, everyone in Greedy People sucks, but not enough to where it becomes actually enjoyable to watch most of them suffer. The second half in particular descends into miserable drudgery as everyone gets their just deserts and the viewer quietly waits for it to finally be over.

Greedy People is now available on PVOD.