Movie Review: "The Rivals of Amziah King" Honeypots The Audience
7/12 ForReel Score | 3/5 Stars
It feels impossible to fumble a film where Matthew McConaughey plays a lovable country singing beekeeping father figure. Seems like an all but guaranteed vehicle for the rather selective Interstellar star to win his second Oscar. Yet, The Vast Of Night director Andrew Patterson manages to overthink this slam-dunk premise. In pursuit of weaving a 2 hour plus tale that captures the wider impact of his titular character’s life, Patterson prevents him from ever truly being the central figure in his own story. This more novelistic approach might’ve worked had the rest of the cast been performers of McConaughey’s caliber - but that’s where things start getting sticky.
We meet McConaughey’s Amziah as he investigates the fallout of a honey heist. The cops have come to him with a barrel of stolen product hoping that he can melt it down and find the manufacturer’s insignia. In the midst of this project, goofy interloper Komar (Tony Revolori) accidentally scalps himself reaching inside of one of the machines. Amziah spends a long night taking him to an out of town hospital and while stopping at a diner to decompress, he finds his former foster daughter Kateri (Angelina LookingGlass) pouring his coffee. Determined to improve her lifestyle, Amziah decides to take Kateri on as his beekeeping apprentice. Eventually, Amziah’s bees mysteriously disappear and Kateri is forced to take the helm.
The Amziah centric first act delivers plenty of southern fried magic. While this certainly isn’t his most transformative dramatic turn, McConaughey is dialed in. Amziah is a lovely, giving man who deeply connects with everyone he shares community with. This side of him pours out when he’s helping Kateri acclimate during the film’s two best scenes. The first finds him breaking down the stories behind each of the dishes at a local potluck, complete with flashbacks to bring his storytelling to life. The second takes place at his trailer, where he gently forces Kateri to take part in a bit of impromptu group singing with his neighbors. McConaughey is so effortlessly charismatic and inviting. When he’s monologing, we completely believe that anything he’s speaking about is the most important thing in the world to him. Had the entire film orbited around his rekindled relationship with Kateri, this might’ve been a masterpiece.
Unfortunately, Amziah’s presence does fade with a whole lot of movie left to go. This leaves newcomer Angelina LookingGlass adrift with the task of carrying a film that demands a lot of her. Kateri has to become crafty, devious and most importantly confident in her pursuit of Amziah’s property. I don’t wish to be cruel to LookingGlass. This would be an overwhelming ask for any actress of her age. However, I cannot deny that she isn’t very emotive on screen. Regardless of where we are in Kateri’s arc, LookingGlass’ performance remains stoic and flat. She removes us from a character who we absolutely must buy into.
Patterson’s uneven screenplay does her no favors. It is so concerned with remaining lighthearted that it never genuinely reckons with the emotional weight of Kateri’s trials. She immediately shifts into smooth operator mode and does not look back. An extended bee retrieval caper is reasonably entertaining aside from LookingGlass floundering. However, the third act introduces Kurt Russell as slimy crime lord Dob McCoy, who is a total cartoon character. We barely get any time to interact with him before we’re concocting schemes about how to screw him over. Russell only really gets two dialogue sequences and neither of them are particularly revealing. His movie star charisma might’ve made up for the lack of McConaughey under better circumstances but instead he becomes a footnote.
There’s also a ton of overcooked editing from Patrick J. Smith in an attempt to make Patterson’s direction appear more stylish than it is. Instead of letting the film’s vibrant setting and music set the tone, there’s a ton of odd freeze frames and other manic cuts that are straight out of a student film. It’s a patient story with an impatient storyteller at the helm. Every aspect of the film seems tailored to what might be jarring enough to hold the audience’s attention. This story deserved the level of care and detail on par with a Coen Brothers movie, not these amateurish flourishes.
The Rivals of Amziah King is almost worth watching to witness McConaughey’s performance. Hardcore fans of his will be delighted. However, Andrew Patterson simply does not have the skill to match his ambition. He litters this cast with mediocre supporting players and devolves the plot into nonsense. This is the rare film that I’d dare say might’ve worked better as a six episode miniseries to allow each of these beats to breathe and feel self contained. The only problem with that approach might’ve been the viewer retention rate for the episodes that LookingGlass would lead.