Vengeance

Last night I finally got myself to the Broadway to see Vengeance and I think it is incredibly thought-provoking.  Ben Manalowitz (B.J. Novak) is a writer for the New Yorker who aspires to have a podcast to use as a platform for expressing his opinion on the cultural divide in America.  One night he receives a phone call from Ty Shaw (Boyd Holbrook) informing him that his sister Abilene (Lio Tipton) has died of a drug overdose while at a wild party.  Ben only hooked up with Abilene a couple of times but Ty is under the impression that they were much closer and insists that he come to her funeral in West Texas.  He reluctantly agrees and meets Abilene's family, including her mother Sharon (J. Smith-Cameron), sisters Paris (Isabella Amara) and Kansas City (Dove Cameron), brother Mason (Elli Abrams Beckel), and grandmother Carole (Louanne Stephens), who all think he is Abilene's boyfriend.  Ty asks Ben to help him get vengeance against Sancholo (Zach Villa), the man he believes is responsible for Abilene's death, but Ben thinks that Ty is creating a conspiracy because the family can't bear to accept that Abilene turned to drugs because of the hopelessness of her life.  He thinks this might be a great subject for a podcast and his producer Eloise (Issa Rae) agrees.  He stays in West Texas investigating Abilene's death and recording content for the podcast but he ends up discovering more than he bargained for.  This is a compelling murder mystery, with a resolution that I did not see coming, but it is also a razor sharp bit of social commentary.  Writer and director Novak explores quite a few thought-provoking ideas, such as the cultural divide between the red and blue states, exploitation for the sake of content, and the opioid crisis, but sometimes these ideas become a bit unwieldy.  The dialogue is highly amusing, especially in an opening scene featuring a cameo by John Mayer (who is essentially playing himself), and I laughed out loud during an extended joke at a rodeo.  Novak is great, even if he doesn't quite sell the idea that he is a player, and Ashton Kutcher gives one of the best performances I've seen from him as a record producer.  This dark comedy is very entertaining and I definitely recommend it.