The Kill Room Reviews

The second directorial outing of Nicol Paone (Friendsgiving), The Kill Room nearly defies genre description. Though undoubtedly a comedy, this movie about premeditated murder feels at times more like a heist movie than anything else. However, anyone willing to look past the film's lack of polish in terms of both storytelling and script supervision will find something much deeper than the average crime comedy. Gordon (Samuel L. Jackson) runs a bialy shop, where his tendency to speak in Yiddish earns him the nickname "Black Dreidel." This shop acts as a front to launder the earnings of hitman Reggie (Joe Manganiello). Seeking a new front, the two team up with struggling art dealer Patrice (Uma Thurman) on a new racket. Reggie takes on the role of creating artwork to justify the fraudulent checks moving between them. When his work earns him global recognition overnight, he begins to think he might be made for a better life than his current job of suffocating people with deli bags. Predictably, the film's premise serves as backdrop for biting satire of the art world. None of the collectors offering hundreds of thousands for Reggie's work believe his art is any good. He's only successful because the price of his first "sale" leaks on the internet, and collectors decide any art so expensive must be worth having. Few question why this new artist goes by the pseudonym Bagman (a reference to Reggie's preferred killing style), nor why the bags he uses in his artwork are stained a gruesome shade of red. The biggest issue with the story is that it seems Paone couldn't decide what direction to take it. Early on, Patrice reveals Reggie's criminal background in an Adderall-fueled rant while several attendees at his first gallery show record her on their phones. This prompts a visit from the police, yet nothing ever comes of this. The film shifts into a completely different gear, focusing on Reggie's desire to escape the crime bosses who blackmailed him into wet work. The audience learns Reggie's rather touching backstory, and an excellent series of twists, turns and betrayals begins. It's not frustrating because of the unresolved plot regarding Reggie's exposure, but rather because it feels the latter half of the film is what The Kill Room should have been from start to finish. The film's back half is cleaner from a technical standpoint as well. The only scenes in the first half with any real flair are those in which Reggie either paints or murders people. Aside from these, the most memorable scene from the film's early moments is a baffling gallery scene in which the same background actor walks through the shot three times in succession. The film has a script supervisor, yet somehow no one noticed the woman in the distractingly pink dress circling the lead actors like a shark for forty seconds. Patrice's gallery is small, but not that small. These sorts of glaring errors might earn any other film a lower rating, but The Kill Room is hard to dislike. Jackson, Thurman, and Manganiello all give terrific performances, with Manganiello in particular playing somewhat against type. Known largely for comedic roles, he plays Reggie with a beautiful reserve that fits the character perfectly. Most importantly, the film has heart. Patrice and Reggie just want better lives for themselves. While they help each other in a sense, the most touching aspect is that they already believe this about themselves yet simply struggle to act on it. Watching them overcome this self-doubt is inspiring enough that many viewers will leave the theater feeling more energized than they would after most action films. The wish to believe that one has the skills to achieve a better life is one of the most relatable themes a movie could offer. Minus all the murder, of course.