Pictured: One Example of How to Make a Killing (CREDIT: A24)
Starring: Glen Powell, Margaret Qualley, Jessica Henwick, Bill Camp, Nell Williams, Zach Woods, Topher Grace, Ed Harris, Bianco Amato, Raff Law, Sean Cameron Michael
Director: John Patton Ford
Running Time: 105 Minutes
Rating: R for Stark Bursts of Sudden Violence
Release Date: February 20, 2026 (Theaters)
What’s It About?: When heiress Mary Redfellow (Nell Williams) gets knocked up at the age of 18 and refuses to give up the baby, her father Whitelaw (Ed Harris) disowns her from the family. Left to her own devices as a single mother, she dies young, leaving her boy Becket (Glen Powell) orphaned but self-sufficient and hungry to inherit the fortune that’s owed him. Here’s the good news: even though his grandfather has cut off all contact, Becket is still officially in the Redfellow will. But here’s where it gets tricky: the inheritance is doled out in birth order, and he’s got a couple of uncles, an aunt, and a few older cousins ahead of him. However, with the universe proving again and again to be fantastically unfair, he can’t help but wonder: would it really be so wrong if he went ahead and eliminated all of them? And does he have what it takes to get away with it?
What Made an Impression?: It’s Kind to Be Cruel: If the plot of How to Make a Killing rings a bell, perhaps you’ve seen its loose inspiration, Kind Hearts and Coronets, which was itself loosely based on the novel Israel Rank: The Autobiography of a Criminal and is probably most famous for Alec Guiness playing eight different characters. There’s no need to backtrack to the original if you haven’t seen it, though, as these “eat the rich” narratives will remain relevant for as long as wealth inequality persists. This one leans hard on the black comedy, of the silly “oops, now there’s a dead body” variety (or at least as silly as that scenario can be). Put simply, Becket’s relatives are generally too clueless and/or vain to do anything right besides have money. Zach Woods and Topher Grace (as an infuriating artist and a religious huckster, respectively) are the clear standouts among the cousins you’ll love to hate.
Getting Locked: While HtMaK is an Eat the Rich Thriller at premise, it’s a neo-noir at heart, with Becket forever trapped once he takes the first step on his family-slaying journey, and Powell providing the thousand-mile stare-into-the-distance of lost hope that such a story requires. Playing the femme fatale is Margaret Qualley as Becket’s childhood friend Julia, who returns into his life at just the worst moment (or just the right moment, depending on how you look at it). Complicating the affairs of the heart is the genuinely sweet Ruth (Jessica Henwick), girlfriend of one of Becket’s cousins whom he takes a shine to. The two ladies serve as the opposite poles of where the rest of his life could end up. Julia is a bit more of a cypher than Ruth, though, and while that shallowness fits this movie’s approach, I now want to revisit the story from her point of view, so that we can discover where the humanity is hiding within the schemer.
Left Alone to Be Right: Like plenty of noir flicks, this is a morality tale at heart. That’s not to say that Becket has to eventually pay for his transgressions, though I guess it depends on what you mean by “pay for.” The story begins with his mother making him promise that he won’t settle for anything other than “the right kind of life.” But what is that right kind of life, regardless of whether or not it’s the one that Mom is endorsing? That answer is kind of obvious, but is there anyone in Becket’s life who cares about him enough to offer that? Maybe there actually is, if he knows where to look. Sometimes we can become blinded by righteousness, and How to Make a Killing makes for quite the blind journey.
How to Make a Killing is Recommended If You: Want to stir Parasite, Double Indemnity, and The Righteous Gemstones up in a blender, with a sprinkling of Maxine from the X Trilogy
Grade: 4 out of 5 Inheritances
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