How to Make a Killing

Last night my nephew and I had a double feature and we started with How to Make a Killing.  I was really looking forward to this because the trailer reminded me of the hilarious stage musical A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder (both are inspired by the 1949 film Kind Hearts and Coronets) but, unfortunately, it was very disappointing.  Becket Redfellow (Glen Powell) is visited by a priest (Adrian Lukas) hours before his scheduled execution for murder.  He recounts the events that led him to his fate beginning with when his mother Mary Redfellow (Nell Williams) was disinherited by her wealthy father Whitelaw Redfellow (Ed Harris) for becoming pregnant with him.  His mother tells him that, even though there are seven people ahead of him, he is still in line to inherit the vast Redfellow fortune and, when he reconnects with his childhood crush Julia Steinway (Margaret Qualley), she gives him the idea to kill all of them to get the money.  Party boy Taylor Redfellow (Raff Law), photographer Noah Redfellow (Zach Woods), megachurch leader Steven Redfellow (Topher Grace), philanthropist Cassandra Redfellow (Bianca Amato), and pilot McArthur Redfellow (Alexander Hanson) all die under unusual circumstances but suspicious FBI Agents Brad Matthews (Stevel Marc) and Megan Pinfield (Phumi Tau) are unable to prove Becket was involved.  He eventually inherits the fortune when stock broker Warren Redfellow (Bill Camp) dies from a heart attack and when he shoots the patriarch of the family, Whitelaw Redfellow, in self-defense but complications ensue when he begins a relationship with Noah's ex-girlfriend Ruth (Jessica Henwick) and when Julia wants in on the fortune.  What I love most about the musical, which is one of my favorites, is the manic energy as each member of the family is dispatched in an absurd and completely over the top sequence.  This version is strangely inert because it plays it straight with an eat the rich message that becomes muddled in the third act and the family members have little more than cameos in scenes without any bite.  Powell's charisma is wasted, in my opinion, as a character that is surprisingly bland and Qualley does not do much beyond displaying her long legs for the camera.  I wanted this to be funny, or at the very least satirical, but I found it boring and I recommend giving it a miss.