Becky: Surly teen girl versus neo-Nazis thriller proves it's not just looks that can kill

By Jim Slotek

Rating: B-minus

After seeing the one-note but cheesily entertaining thriller Becky, parents of moody teenage girls can be forgiven for granting their offspring immediate amnesty from grounding.

Because frankly, it’s not just looks that can kill.

The film, by Jonathan Milott and Cary Murnion (Bushwick), rides entirely on the lethal sulk of young Lulu Wilson (best known to Trekkers for her standout performance as Riker and Troi’s gifted daughter Kestra in Star Trek: Picard). That’s not to dismiss Kevin James’ stereotype-breaking performance as a Nazi skinhead, but he doesn’t carry the movie.

A sullen teenage girl (Lulu Wilson) goes neo-Nazi hunting in Becky.

Between flashbacks of Becky (Wilson) cheerfully comforting her terminally ill cancer-stricken mom with a song, the camera returns to the present, where we see glowering Becky at her desk at school, being called to the principal’s office. 

There’s a suggestion that Becky has a recent history of acting out inappropriately (we see her shoplift at one point), but this latest call is prompted by her dad Jeff (Community’s Joel McHale), who’s shown up to take her to the family cottage for the weekend.

And, surprise! He’s bringing along his new fiancée Kayla (Amanda Brugel) and her young son, so they can all get to know each other and become a new, happy family.

Cue Becky’s predictable meltdown in three… two… one…

Of course, without the angry teen racing from the cottage and taking refuge in a tree house with one of the family’s two dogs, there would be no movie. It allows her to be elsewhere when the Nazis show up. (And don’t you hate when that happens?).

We know all about Dominick (James) and his three white supremacist cronies’ violent escape from a prison van because of the imaginative split-screen and cuts that directors Milott and Murnion use that make various characters seem like they’re together when they’re far apart. It sort of presages the inevitable coming-together of these two “families.”

Why are they there? It has something to do with a very important key that was hidden on the property, but Becky is a film that’s unconcerned with details and logic (like why wouldn’t Becky simply run to the nearest neighbours, who, we’re told, live a little more than a mile away?).

Instead, having ascertained that clever/angry Becky is out there, and even where she’s hiding, the movie turns into Home Alone, if Macaulay Culkin had gorily murdered Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern instead of cartoonishly incapacitating them.

As mentioned, former sitcom star James (The King of Queens) does a serviceable job making himself unrecognizable as a skinhead, with a swastika on the back of his skull and white power patter. Canadian former wrestler Robert Maillet is also impressive as Apex, a monster of a bad guy with a sentimental streak.

At its most basic level, Becky is a female empowerment/revenge movie. And a movie like this, with its de rigueur open-ended sequel-friendly ending, suggests Becky has plenty more empowerment left in her.

Becky. Directed by Jonathan Milott and Cary Murnion. Starring Lulu Wilson, Kevin James and Joel McHale. Available via On Demand and Digital across Canada on Friday June 5.