When the concept is sturdy, it can be relied on for a long time. How to Make a Killing has seemingly gotten some flak for simply being a riff on the 1949 British dark comedy Kind Hearts and Coronets. Never mind that the highly acclaimed film was, itself, adapted from the 1907 novel “Israel Rank: The Autobiography of a Criminal,” which also inspired the Tony Award-winning musical A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder. The thing is, this 2026 take on the material isn’t hiding what it is either. Writer/director John Patton Ford is clearly following up his acclaimed debut, Emily the Criminal, with another movie rooted in class divides and moral dilemmas, featuring a killer premise. The results are quite enjoyable.
Glen Powell stars as Becket Redfellow, the youngest blood relative in his family, who was also disowned at birth. Taking to heart the abandonment his mother faced by her relatives when she became pregnant at a young age, Becket’s goal in life is to enact a reckoning by becoming the one to reclaim his inheritance. Now working a blue-collar job, he’s given a mild push by his childhood friend, Julia Steinway (Margaret Qualley), to take a darker approach to achieving this goal. This leads Becket down the road of murdering his relatives one by one, using methods that make all of the deaths look like accidents. However, this does begin to draw unwanted attention, so Becket will have to be a few steps ahead if he wants to see this plan through to the bitter end.
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Alec Guinness famously plays eight characters in Kind Hearts and Coronets. After watching Powell in Hit Man and Chad Powers, roles requiring him to also perform as multiple characters, it’s a little disappointing that this, of all films, didn’t figure out a way for him to do the same. Mild kidding aside, this is very much territory fit for Powell’s energy. Becket is mostly charming, but hints of a sinister side emerge, especially as we watch him weigh the various professional successes he has achieved, the closer he gets to his goal. This is a good use of Powell, which does a better job of relying on his inherent charisma and what kinds of things can send him off balance, compared to The Running Man, which tried to convince us he was the angriest man in America.
This time around, rather than relying on ways to emphasize his handsomeness, the film smartly throws him into situations where he can just blend in. Yes, in 2026, when considering the idea of a child being disowned before being given a chance by a family with a fortune rooted in the “old money” class, there are other… perhaps more colorful casting choices that could have been made. That would allow the film to really lean into the socioeconomic divides and the challenges a character like Becket could face for myriad reasons, but that’s not the choice being made here. If anything, while there’s a good amount of room given to Powell for him to explore how Becket handles his steady rise, the film is curiously timid about taking that aspect more seriously.
Now, some choices are made to highlight the disparity at play. Becket clearly comes from a world of have-nots, aiming to become an elite. I only wish the film pushed on that harder. Instead, while I can handle the antics that come with killing off relatives in a manner that is darkly humorous as opposed to being too vicious to handle, making Becket so charming that we enter into a relationship subplot means keeping us out of his head when it comes to exploring how well he’s contending with the ethical nature of his choices. This is no offense to Jessica Henwick, who portrays Ruth, Becket’s level-headed, working-class girlfriend, who shares good chemistry with Powell. She’s doing what is required.
With that said, it’s clear that Qualley is the more interesting female character who could be even stronger were her dialogue not so wildly on the nose. Wearing Chanel suits and short skirts, she’s pulling off the modern-day femme fatale quite easily, and her expressions say everything that’s needed. So it’s a real shame when she doesn’t quite match that attitude and demeanor with stronger dialogue to either match a witty tone this film strives for or do enough verbal damage to knock Becket down a peg when needed.
As for the family members, none are really around long enough to leave much of an impression, other than Bill Camp, the most sympathetic of the bunch. Ed Harris plays Becket’s grandfather, and while the veteran actor continues to show how near-impossible it is for him to deliver a bad performance, I wish the film had found better uses for his time. As it stands, he’s a commanding screen presence, but this again speaks to the film finding its peak fairly early and just coasting on its laid-back nature.
Perhaps more urgency was needed, but I certainly feel that going darker could have aided this film more. Powell is quite good here, even if the screenplay seems to limit how far he could have taken Becket from a psychological standpoint. How to Make a Killing is also quite funny, without pushing too hard to crack jokes. There’s just enough quirk in the relatives who receive more screentime than others (Zach Woods, specifically), which is enough to help the film walk the line of allowing the audience to go along with the need to see their lives end in favor of Becket’s scheme. The whole enterprise may not mean getting an entirely satisfying dark core at the center, but there’s still fun to be found in this plan to make a fortune.
How To Make A Killing opens in theaters on February 20, 2026.
