Though the script ventures into the unrealistic with its over-the-top Texas spirit and overused philosophical messages embedded throughout, Vengeance gets one important thing right. It finds a way to compel viewers emotionally...

| Original Score: 4/5 | Jul 25, 2024

Even with a flawed story and some underdeveloped characters, Vengeance shines through a hilarious script and a colorful bunch of Shaws that protagonist Ben interacts with.

| Original Score: B | Mar 6, 2024

The film has quite a hard time negotiating between the serious and the comedy... you don't need to see it on the big screen.

| Jan 3, 2024

Who knew Ryan from the office would one day direct, write, produce, & act in a film that is smartly written in such a straight forward comedy

| Jul 25, 2023

Vengeance, more than anything, is a plea for life to have meaning without being distilled into content generation. It’s a plea for presentness, a willingness to embrace regrets, and a promise to do better.

| Jul 24, 2023

After an admittedly slow start, Vengeance kicks into extremely compelling gear...

| Original Score: 4/5 | Mar 10, 2023

Vengeance makes some of its cultural stereotypes too broad and heavy-handed, and the movie's ending could have been better. Overall, the story can hold viewers' interest, as long as there's tolerance for what the movie is saying about personal biases.

| Jan 12, 2023

...a solid debut from Novak...

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Dec 23, 2022

From Ashton Kutcher to Whataburger, B.J. Novak’s shrewd feature length directorial debut quite literally comes out of left field swinging.

| Original Score: B | Dec 10, 2022

This film has a lot to say about our perception of things and how our biases skew how we feel. The result is a little blander than it could have been, but it ultimately works as a smart, decently written debut from Novak.

| Original Score: 6/10 | Nov 30, 2022

Beginning as a fast-talking comedy with something dark lurking underneath, this film sends its central character into an amusingly alien culture before shifting into a mystery thriller.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Oct 12, 2022

As a comedy about contemporary American society it feels weirdly anachronistic, with an uninspired story told with little urgency or novelty.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Oct 10, 2022

It’s mildly amusing stuff that delivers no surprises, but may muster a few laughs.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Oct 10, 2022

Novak imbues the yokels with dignity and unfussy sophistication.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Oct 7, 2022

It’s caustic, clever, and shallow entertainment, usually all at once.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Oct 7, 2022

Some of this is very funny, sometimes the comedy feels forced, and sometimes, not entirely successfully, it is abandoned altogether. Cautiously recommended.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Oct 7, 2022

It feels like Novak’s trying to use the crime podcast angle to satirise the mythology of a decaying Middle America and explore a creative existential crisis. Instead, we get an enjoyable and genuinely funny satire on the class divide.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Oct 5, 2022

Novak's feature debut is an ingenious social satire with the right balance of humor and mystery. [Full Review in Spanish]

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Oct 5, 2022

BJ Novak nails the nuance and humor of Texas culture in a way that only he could.

| Original Score: A- | Sep 26, 2022

Both the funniest movie I've seen in quite a while and an example of something really good progressively falling apart.

| Original Score: B- | Sep 26, 2022