Vengeance (2022 film)

New York City journalist Ben Manalowitz is phoned by a stranger, Ty Shaw, that one of his many casual romantic relationships, Abilene "Abby" Shaw, has died of an apparent drug overdose. At Ty's insistence, Ben flies to West Texas to attend the funeral. He meets Abby's family, consisting of brother Ty, mother Sharon, sisters Paris and Kansas City, younger brother Mason (referred to as "El Stupido"), and Granny Carole. Ty then informs Ben that he suspects Abby was actually murdered, adamantly maintaining that she never took drugs, and asks Ben to accompany him to find the truth and avenge her. After conferring with his podcast producer Eloise, Ben elects to aid them as part of a story he will produce about grief and denial.

Ben and Ty meet Ty's friend Crawl, who explains that parties often occur at the oil fields and tells Ben of an area nearby the fields dubbed "the Afterparty", an area between law enforcement jurisdictions where dead bodies have been reported over time. Crawl and Ty suspect Sancholo, a local drug dealer. Ben meets Quentin Sellers, an eccentric record producer and, like Ben, an outsider who is college-educated but has come to adopt Texas as his home. He gives Ben a memory stick with recordings of Abby performing. Ben confronts Sancholo to discuss Abby's death, and he reveals he was in Tulsa at the time. After watching a rodeo with the Shaw family at a rodeo, Ben walks to his car which then suddenly explodes. Ben receives a call from Eloise, telling him that the story is complete – and his best ever – and expects him to now return to New York.

More details about Abby are revealed by the Shaws. Granny explains Granny Abby was a drug user, which Ty had lied about to get closer to her (supposed) boyfriend. Mason mentions how Abby would speak in code with him, saying "1435" (for the letters in "I love you mucho"). Enlightened, Ben uses the number to unlock Abby's phone, finding a contact labeled "Ben", which Abby did to make her family believe she was texting with a New York boyfriend (thus the Shaws' misunderstanding). The last few messages indicate that Abby was abandoned by the unknown Texas "Ben" as she lay dying.

Armed with one of Ty's pistols, Ben rides with Mason to a party at the oil fields. Ben learns that his car was bombed by Texas Tech Red Raiders fans from the rodeo, who disapproved his chanting for the Texas Longhorns. Ben finds Ty and Quentin, and the latter invites him to a private tent to converse. Inside, Ben notices a stash of opioids and witnesses one of Quentin's teenage singers being dragged away to "the Afterparty". After turning off his recorder, Ben elicits a confession from Quentin, who confirms that he caused Abby to overdose and left her to die. Ben reveals that he actually recorded the confession on his phone, to which Quentin responds with a speech about the nature of Ben's story and how ever-questioning audiences will shift their negative attention from Quentin (who only "left somebody to die" of their own overdose) to Ben and then toward the Shaws. Ben stops the recording and then executes Quentin with Ty's pistol. Upon returning to the Shaw house, Ben reconciles with Ty and Sharon. Before departing from Texas, Ben remotely deletes all copies of his recordings, electing to keep the story between the Shaws and himself.

• 
  B. J. Novak as Ben Manalowitz
• 
  Boyd Holbrook as Ty Shaw
• 
  J. Smith-Cameron as Sharon Shaw
• 
  Lio Tipton as Abilene Shaw
• 
  Dove Cameron as Kansas City Shaw
• 
  Isabella Amara as Paris Shaw
• 
  Eli Abrams Bickel as El Stupido
• 
  Louanne Stephens as Granny Carole
• 
  Zach Villa as Sancholo
• 
  Clint Obenchain as Crawl
• 
  Issa Rae as Eloise
• 
  Ashton Kutcher as Quentin Sellers
• 
  Rio Alexander as Sheriff Jimenez

In addition, singers John Mayer and Chevel Shepherd each make cameo appearances as Ben's New York friend and a young Texas singer, respectively, while radio show host Terry Gross has an uncredited voice cameo as Robin, host of a radio show.

Between 2015 and 2018, B. J. Novak, who lives in Los Angeles, California, took several trips to Texas to do research for a film he wanted to write about a blue state podcaster who travels to a red state.[2] In March 2020, it was announced Novak would direct and star in the film, with Issa Rae, Ashton Kutcher, and Boyd Holbrook joining the cast.[3][4]

Principal photography began in Albuquerque, New Mexico in March 2020, but was halted due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[5] In January 2021, Isabella Amara joined the cast and production resumed that month.[6] In March 2021, J. Smith-Cameron and Lio Tipton joined the cast, with Focus Features set to distribute.[7][8] Tipton came out as non-binary, and changed their given name from Analeigh to Lio, just three months after signing on to the film, making this their first work credited as Lio Tipton when it was released in June 2022.[9]

Finneas O'Connell composed the film score. The soundtrack was released by Back Lot Music.

Vengeance premiered on June 12, 2022, at the Tribeca Festival and was theatrically released in the United States on July 29, 2022.[10] On September 16, 2022, it was released on Peacock to stream exclusively on the platform.[11] The film was released on Blu-ray and DVD 4 days later on September 20, 2022.[12]

• Official website
• Vengeance at IMDb 
• Vengeance at AllMovie