How to Make a Killing
February 18th, 2026
MOVIE: HOW TO MAKE A KILLING
STARRING: GLENN POWELL, MARGARET QUALLEY, TOPHER GRACE, JESSICA HENWICK, ED HARRIS
DIRECTED BY: JOHN PATTON FORD
AMovieGuy.com’s RATING: 2 STARS (Out of 4)
RATED: R
RUN TIME: 105 MINUTES
Something consistently feels off about director John Patton Ford’s How to Make a Killing. It isn’t the subject matter or the cast, but rather a predictable dark comedy that wants to cut deep and instead ends up poking with a butter knife. I hate to say it, but this is a movie constantly searching for something to say- and ultimately saying very little. How to Make a Killing has a compelling leading man and a clear plan, yet it never commits to doing what’s necessary to become a great film. Instead of evolving into a new-age American Psycho, it settles for going through the motions.
The film opens with our lead, Becket Redfellow (Powell), sitting quietly in his prison cell, approached by a priest (Adrian Lukis) offering consolation before his execution. Through this framing device, Becket recounts how he landed there. Born into wealth but disowned before birth when his 18-year-old mother was cast out by the family, Becket grows up on the outside of privilege, looking in. Years later, now in his thirties and long after his mother’s death from cancer, he casually devises a plan to eliminate various family members in hopes of becoming the last Redfellow standing and inheriting what he believes is rightfully his. You can’t choose your family- but, as the film suggests, you can remove them.
On its face, How to Make a Killing boasts an intriguing premise: a rags-to-riches story achieved by any means necessary. Unfortunately, Ford’s writing is sharp in concept but dull in execution. We’re introduced to a string of disposable relatives whom Becket methodically knocks off- a spoiled stock market bro (Raff Law), a faux-struggling artist (Zach Woods, the film’s lone bright spot)- before meeting his love interest Ruth (Jessica Henwick, sadly underused). Meanwhile, a former crush, Julia (Margaret Qualley), drifts in and out of the narrative as a half-formed reminder of Becket’s past. It’s not until his uncle Warren Redfellow (Bill Camp) welcomes him into the fold- offering him a job and even a promotion- that Becket begins to question whether these heinous acts are necessary.
What doesn’t help is the film’s wildly inconsistent tone. Ford seems to be aiming for a dark riff on The Wolf of Wall Street or the aforementioned American Psycho, but the heavy reliance on flashbacks and narration, combined with an oddly somber seriousness, leaves the film feeling cold and inert. Qualley’s character appears sporadically, lacking sufficient backstory or narrative weight. As for Powell, this is the kind of charismatic antihero role he could own- had he not already delivered a more dynamic version of it in Hit Man. Here, the character feels less cunning and simply lifeless.
The result is ultimately disappointing. Ford’s previous film, Emily the Criminal, was a tightly wound, propulsive thriller about a woman doing whatever it takes to survive in a system stacked against her. There may be a thematic echo of that desperation here, but How to Make a Killing squanders it in a story that never decides what it wants to be, neither biting satire nor gripping drama. Sharp, morally murky concepts like this are usually right up my alley, which makes the film’s failure all the more frustrating. In trying so hard to be cutting, How to Make a Killing ends up barely drawing blood.
2 STARS
HOW TO MAKE A KILLING IS PLAYING IN THEATERS THIS FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 20TH, 2026.
Written by: Leo Brady
