Skip to content

Kajillionaire takes a long time to like: Review

Focus Features
Focus Features

If you like your movies quirky, Kajillionaire is your dream come true. The story takes a hard turn halfway through and only gets better as you keep watching it. But if you stick with it, it eventually turns into a peculiarly creative crime story.

The premise is a mid-20s woman named Old Dolio (Evan Rachel Wood, of TV's Westworld) who lives and works with her parents as a small-time criminal in a desolate corner of Los Angeles. Her parents have taught her nothing but tricks and schemes, so now Dolio is having trouble leading a normal life when there’s so much she hasn’t learned.

One of the few benefits to the worlds of art and cinema in this tumultuous, pandemic-induced landscape is that smaller films that might normally go unnoticed by audiences who normally stick only to blockbuster releases are getting their time in the spotlight due to a lack of competition. 

In other words: with so few movies being released these days, any good movie is worth you going to see. The question is: should Kajillionaire be one of them?

This definitely isn’t going to be for everyone. The pacing is choppy, the humour is relentlessly deadpan, and the general attitude of how the four main characters speak and interact are uncomfortable to watch. Not gross, unpleasant, or out of character - just uncomfortable.

What’s most disappointing, and perhaps the only ineffective choice, is how stretched out the first 45 minutes is. The back half of the movie, when Old Dolio begins working towards her new crime-free life and addresses her years of neglect, is great stuff that tells a really interesting story.

The problem is the first 45 minutes is an insufferable series of scenes where petty crimes don’t work, and all the audience can do is sit and watch the strangeness of this family.

How slow moving is it?

We don’t learn the name of any character in the film for almost an hour. (We finally learn the main character’s because we see her name printed on a cheque.)

Comedy here is meant to be appreciated instead of found funny, and that standpoint of thought and appreciation is a different way than most people watch films. It isn’t entertaining, but this is certainly entertainment.

The several opposite qualities I’m trying to describe are part of a clear, definitive direction from Miranda July. Her career as an actor, writer and director have all long been defined by her uniqueness and strangeness, and Kajillionaire is no exception.

If the oddball discomfort is something you find funny, or at least something you can stomach, there’s enough formidable acting for a good night out. But if you start out confused, don’t say you weren’t warned.

Kajillionaire

6 out of 10

PG, 1hrs 46mins. Crime Comedy Drama.

Written and Directed by Miranda July.

Starring Evan Rachel Wood, Gina Rodriguez, Richard Jenkins and Deborah Winger.

Now Playing at Film.Ca Cinemas.

Read more reviews and entertainment news @MrTyCollins on Facebook and Twitter.