BECKY (2020) Full review!

Spunky and rebellious, Becky (Lulu Wilson) is brought to a weekend getaway at a lake house by her father Jeff (Joel McHale) in an effort to try to reconnect. The trip immediately takes a turn for the worse when a group of convicts on the run, led by the merciless Dominick (Kevin James), suddenly invade the lake house.

First off let me say that Becky is not a GREAT film or even VERY GOOD but it is ENTERTAINING and highly watchable. You must understand that this is NOT Dominick's story it really belongs to Becky as the title infers. There is a KEY element here that can be easily missed.

Let me begin with the negatives and boy there are a slew of them. Forgetting Kevin James for a moment this flick is pretty bad in a lot of ways. The entire premise is about as tired and unoriginal as they come and not very well executed. We also have zero character development with the exception of Becky. Every cliche character could have been cut from the cloth of countless similar, better films. Dialogue is weak but serviceable. The pacing is fast but at the expense of backstory making the whole thing seems somewhat clipped together.

Despite the bad it's almost as if the filmmakers knew what they were trying to accomplish. Presenting Kevin James as never before and to unabashedly entertain viewers. Well I'm happy to say, they succeeded. The violence and gore is at once grim and campy, you'll wince and laugh at the same time. Kudos to the old school makeup effects, always nice to see. The dialogue and character actions are over the top and add to the unbridled fray. The fact that little Becky gets punched in the face and body slammed several times without getting seriously injured tells us that realism wasn't the brass ring here. The subtle (?) transformation of Becky is intriguingly induced.

The big question everyone is wondering, did KJ pull it off? Well, yes and no. I personally think that the writers shot too high in making him a neo nazi in which he just couldn't quite achieve. Yet he was menacing and in some scenes with the right lighting absolutely terrifying. In a few moments however he was Doug Heffernan especially during a particular EYE popping scene that had me rolling. In retrospect this was an ingenious melding and a stepping stone for things to come. If nothing else this was a very important film for James who took a chance playing way against type. In that, he succeeded.

In summation I will say that despite an overused premise and stock characters the movie kept me watching, was wildly entertaining at times and made me laugh out loud more than once. Kevin James did pretty good with the material if not 100 percent convincing. Not great by a long shot but fun, wild, at times head shakingly inept, and gold for Kevin James fans. Definitely worth a watch!

3/5