BREAKING NEWS IN YUBA COUNTY
US, 2021, 96 minutes, Colour.
Alison Janney, Mila Kunis, Regina Hall, Awkwafina, Wanda Sykes, Ellen Barkin, Matthew Modine, Jimmi Simpson, Keong Sun, Juliette Lewis, Clifton Collins Jr, Samira Wiley, Bridget Everett, T.C.Metherne, Dominic Burgess.
Directed by Tate Taylor.
How well do Americans take to satire and parody? Generally, American comedy tends to be fairly broad, obvious, pratfalls and slapstick, and, as the decades have gone on, a move from innuendo to straightforward and crass language and situations. This is not the case here. This one is far more similar to the ironic parody of Saturday Night Live.
The structure of the screenplay is clever. Initially, there is a focus on one character, Sue, the timid housewife, trying to reinforce herself-confidence with mantras about her being important and significant. (And part of the parody is that this character is played, very effectively and credibly, by the tall Alison Janney, so strong in performances in I, Tonya and The West Wing.) It is her birthday and she has to buy her own cake, work associates happily buying a cake for another worker and ignoring her, her husband (Matthew Modine) forgetting her birthday.
In fact, this will all lead to an extraordinary tangle involving her husband, a motel, a liaison, Sue surprising him, his heart attack – and, the police or not, and disposing of the body.
But, Sue doesn’t go to the police. What follows is an extraordinarily complex black comedy of errors, the discovery that the husband was laundering money at the bank, his delinquent brother, Pete (Jimi Simpson whose wife is now pregnant with twins) is entangled with two tough petty criminals (Awkwafina and Clifton Collins Jr), who have no scruple in killing, and standover tactics on behalf of a local businessman and the laundering of his cash. There is a large bag of cash buried with the body!
As if that isn’t enough, the brother is reforming, works for the hard-nosed, wisecracking proprietor of a store (Wanda Sykes in stand-up comedy mode) who has seen all the TV films about how gangsters work and wants to be in on the act, including robbing a jewellery store to pay for a ransom.
It all gets very complicated (as if it wasn’t complicated enough) when Sue’s half-sister, Mila Kunis, a minor TV personality, who wants to interview Sue. But, there is a more high-powered television interviewer on a more prominent channel, played unctuously by Juliette Lewis, and Sue would rather be on her program. Sue discovers that, while she might put herself down, media limelight is more than attractive.
Oh, yes. There are also the police, Sue reporting her husband missing, their staking out her house, bemused by her behaviour, tracking down the brother of the store…, the bumptious woman Sue’s husband was having the affair with.
But, this being a black comedy, the writer has no particular concern about characters being killed off. And, mostly they are! All kinds of surprise scenes, variations on the action thriller conventions, always some surprises. And, despite Sue almost exposed by the truth, she is able to sail through all the hazards, even to writing a book about her experiences, sharing them with the host on the TV show who was also written a book!
A very good example of how Americans can do satirical black comedy. If you would like another film in the same vein, a recommendation is Bad Times at the El Royale (also with a large and interesting complement of character actors and comics).
- The nature of American comedy? Broad? Action? The contrast with satire and parody, irony?
- The comic nature of the screenplay, characters, caricatures, situations, tangles and twists, satire, parody, moralising targets?
- The town in Yuba County, homes, workplaces, banks, shops, businesses and money-laundering, police precincts, the television world, studios, local filming…? The musical score?
- Sue’s story? Alison Janney and her presence and performance? Age, relationship with her husband, with her half-sister, self-image, repeating the mantras about her life being important? Buying the cake for her birthday, the wrong spelling, paying for it herself? At work, thinking the cake was for her, but for the fellow-worker? Her husband forgetting her birthday? Going to see him, going to the car, the bunch of flowers? Following him, getting the information at the motel, the confrontation, the shock, his heart attack and death? The girlfriend, hurrying away? Sue, the decision to bury her husband on the grounds, and burying the bag, not knowing what was in it?
- The consequences, her going home, eating the cake, the temper tantrum, creating the mess in the house? Her going to the police, their being busy, the range of people being brought in? Harris, not taking enough notice of Sue? Visiting the house, asking the questions, her assistant? The inconsistencies? The talk of missing, of abduction? Stood down, her persevering, the interviews and discussions with Sue, observing Leah, tracking her down, at the motel, the surveillance camera?
- Sue and her sister, television, agreeing to the interview, the programs from Gloria Michaels, the search for the missing child, audience attention? Sue and her interest in Gloria Michaels, the approach, the story, suggesting her husband knew who would kidnap the child? Arranging the interview with the parents, at her home, Leah and her arrival and disrupting the filming, the parents walking out – and the irony of the later solution that the little girl had run away?
- The husband, work at the bank, his brother, Petey, a thief, jail? And his contact with Mina and Ray? The laundering of the money, changing banks? Mina and Ray going to the bank, the interview with the accountant, shooting him? The disappearance, the idea for the ransom, Petey supplying $20,000, Petey and Rita robbing the jewellery store, handing over the ransom money?
- Petey, his past, relationship with Janelle, her reforming him, her pregnancy? Mina and Ray visiting her, terrorising her, her violent response?
- Rita, the shop, wisecracking, her tough partner, Petey working there? The visit of Mina and Ray, Rita and her knowing all the conventions of gangster and crime films, wanting to be involved? The jewel robbery? Her being killed? And her partner?
- Mina and her father, the money, his disappointment with his daughter? Her being killed? Ray being killed?
- Sue, the confrontation with Leah, the affair, Sue and her threats of exposure, the issue of the money? The going to the motel, digging up the body, the money with in the bag? The shootings, Leah’s death, the father and his being shot? His shooting Harris?
- The police response, Harris and her investigation, been struck down, Jones and his suspicions, going back to work with Harris? Their boss, reassuring Sue? The irony of Harris and Jones being shot at the graveside?
- Sue, the revelation of the money, taking it? The year passing, her writing the book, on television with Gloria Michaels, Gloria saying she had written a book?
- An enjoyably tangled and complex black comedy thriller?
