HOW TO MAKE A KILLING : Tuesday 17th March 2026

I saw the M Rated 'HOW TO MAKE A KILLING' earlier this week, and this French and UK Co-Produced black comedy thriller film is Written and Directed by John Patton Ford in only his second feature film making outing following 'Emily the Criminal' in 2022. This film is based on the Roy Horniman 1907 novel 'Israel Rank : The Autobiography of a Criminal' which in turn was used as the basis of the Screenplay of the highly-regarded 1949 black comedy 'Kind Hearts and Coronets' Directed by Robert Hamer and starring Alec Guinness playing all eight members of the family whom he must kill off to inherit the family fortune. This film was released in the US in mid-February, was released here in Australia on 5th March, in the UK on 11th March, and upcoming in France on 25th March. The film has so far received mixed or average critical reviews, and has grossed US$9M from its US$15M production budget.

Convicted of murder and waiting to be put to death in a little over 24 hours, Becket Redfellow (Glen Powell, who also Co-Produces here), recounts his story to a priest, Father Morris (Adrian Lukis) on how he came to be there in the first place. As a child, Becket (Grady Wilson) is raised by his single mother, Mary (Nell Williams), who was outcast from her wealthy Redfellow family for choosing to keep her teenage pregnancy at just eighteen years of age. As a young lad, Becket befriends the more well to do Julia Steinway (Maggie Toomey). Prior to her death in hospital, Mary stresses to young Becket that he should fight for the life he 'deserves' to have.

One day, a now adult Becket who works as a suit salesman in a bespoke tailors shop is noticed by a now married Julia (Margaret Qualley) who by chance is in the shop looking for suits for her husband. They briefly catch-up on each others lives having not seen one another for many many years. Later Becket gets  demoted from his job as a suit salesman, and pushed out to the company warehouse, whereupon he promptly resigns. Becket decides to eliminate the remaining Redfellows in order to claim his inheritance to the family fortune which runs into the tens of billions of dollars.

Becket first kills his cousin Taylor (Raff Law), an investment banker, by tying an anchor to his leg while he sleeps off a hangover on his private motor boat and tosses the anchor overboard taking Taylor with it. Becket then meets Taylor's father Warren (Bill Camp) at the funeral, who offers him Taylor's old job at his financial investment firm. While planning the murder of his other cousin Noah (Zach Woods), an artist, Becket befriends Noah's girlfriend Ruth (Jessica Henwick). After killing Noah, by rigging an explosion in his photographic dark room, two FBI agents approach Becket, discussing the two suspicious deaths, though they do not accuse Becket of murder. Becket pretends to not know whether he is eligible for the inheritance. Julia appears in Becket's office, claiming her husband Lyle is broke and asks for a US$300K loan, which he denies. 

Becket and Ruth begin dating and move in together into a lavish high-rise apartment, now that he has moved onward and upward in his new job. Despite being welcomed with open arms by Warren, rapidly promoted in his job and content with his relationship with Ruth, Becket kills three more Redfellows -  cousin Steven (Topher Grace), aunt Cassandra (Bianca Amato), and uncle MacArthur (Alexander Hanson). Warren, who Becket is unable to bring himself to kill because of the kindness and generosity he had shown him, has a heart attack and dies as they are both leaving the office one day reeling from a looming financial crisis, leaving only one more living Redfellow, Becket's grandfather Whitelaw (Ed Harris).

Whitelaw sends a personal invitation to Becket for dinner at his mansion on the night of Becket and Ruth's engagement party. He calls Ruth to explain that he must attend and she makes him promise to be home by 7:00pm which he agrees to. Julia reveals to Becket that she has photographic evidence of his murders, which she will reveal unless he gives her the US$300K she had asked for previously, and that this must be delivered personally by him to her husband Lyle (James Frecheville) at his place of work. Becket complies, going to Lyle's office to hand-deliver a cheque to him. Becket forgoes his engagement party to go to the mansion, where he meets Whitelaw, who locks the doors and attempts to kill him with a WWI pump action shotgun. Becket kills Whitelaw in self-defence using a bow and arrow taken from an arrangement hanging on the wall. This makes Becket the sole inheritor to the family fortune. At a celebratory party at the mansion, Becket is approached again by the FBI agents, who arrest him for the murder of Lyle, who was found stabbed to death in his office using a letter opener that Becket touched when he delivered the cheque, leaving fingerprint evidence.

With the clock counting down the hours until his execution, Julia visits Becket in jail. During their timed three minute meeting, she tells him that there was a suicide note written by Lyle that was withheld from the trial. Becket pressures Julia to release the note, which she agrees to only if Becket signs over the entire Redfellow fortune to her. Becket reluctantly agrees, and signs the necessary paperwork from his jail cell. Julia then releases the note as promised. With Becket's innocence now without question, he is set free. Ruth waits for him outside the prison, only to return his mother's locket to him containing a lock of her hair as a keepsake. She leaves afterwards without saying a word to Becket and speeds off in her beat up old car. Becket sees Julia waiting for him with the Redfellow family driver, and the pair travel to the Redfellow family mansion together in the comfort of a Rolls Royce.

As a big almost life long fan of 'Kind Hearts and Coronets' I left the movie theatre feeling underwhelmed by this modern 21st century set in New York retelling that is 'How to Make a Killing'. On the plus side Glen Powell gives an OK frequently smirking like the proverbial Cheshire Cat performance backed up by the always dependable Margaret Qualley and Ed Harris, with the latter being banished to the penultimate sequence in which he perishes courtesy of two well aimed arrows. On the downside however, the six murders are all wrapped up with relative ease, are totally bloodless, and are skirted over like they've been concocted by a ten year old with access to Google. The script would have benefitted too from a little more polish, and being just a tad nastier, more witty, and less predictable. In summary, the film has all the touchstones to be greater than the sum of its parts . . . it just fails to hit them.

'How to Make a Killing' merits two claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a potential five claps. 

-Steve, at Odeon Online-