A One Mann’s Movies review of “How To Make A Killing”. (2026, 2.5*, 15).
So, the Illustrious Mrs Movie Man has been keen to see this one ever since seeing the trailer and realising it to be an obvious remake of the 1949 classic “Kind Hearts and Coronets”. In that Ealing classic, Dennis Price played the Glen Powell role and Sir Alec Guinness playing all the members of the D’Ascoyne family. So we went to see it at the preview showing before it arrives at UK cinemas on March 11th 2026.
In a situation like this, I always feel a moment of tension when a film that I thought to be exceedingly lacklustre ends: will the IMMM rave about it? Fortunately we were as one in our opinion of this one: “Very dull. A big disappointment”. Phew!
One Mann’s Movies Rating:
Plot:
Becket Redfellow (Glen Powell) is on death row with four hours before his scheduled execution. He recounts the events that led him to be here to a priest, Father Morris (Adrian Lukis).
Certification:
UK: 15; US: R. (From the BBFC website: “Strong language, violence”.)
Talent:
Starring: Glen Powell, Margaret Qualley, Jessica Henwick, Adrian Lukis, Nell Williams, Ed Harris, Grady Wilson, Maggie Toomey, Lisa Tredoux, James Frecheville, Raff Law, Bill Camp, Zach Woods, Phumi Tau,
Stevel Marc, Bianca Amato, Alexander Hanson
Directed by: John Patton Ford.
Written by: John Patton Ford. (I find it extraordinary that the writer of “Kind Hearts and Coronets”, Roy Horniman, doesn’t seem to get a credit on IMDB..!?)
Running Time: 1h 45m.
Summary:
Positives:
- Some of the murders are quite inventive (but at least one – the nautical one – is ruined by the trailer).
- There’s a nice twist in the tail (the reason that Becket is caught).
Negatives:
- Margaret Qualley’s character becomes a major irritation.
- It’s not as charming as it should be and not remotely funny enough to class as a black comedy.
Full Review:
A film without charm or comedy.
The question as to whether Glen Powell has the charisma to carry a leading role remains open. He certainly looks dashing enough in his well-tailored suits, but he lacks the indescribable charm of a Cary Grant or a James Stewart for roles like this. I’m afraid, for me, his “all American boy” act comes across as bland and charmless.
And that’s really how I could describe this film: bland and charmless. I’m not quite sure what genre it is shooting for. It seems to be going for somewhere between a Hitchcockian thriller, with Margaret Qualley as the femme fatale, and a screwball comedy and manages to fall down the crack in the bed between them.
It certainly doesn’t pass as a comedy. There are not six laughs (or even six smiles) to be squeezed from the underpowered script.
A spoilerish trailer.
I mean, is it not beyond the wit of a marketing team to create a trailer that IMPLIES that the family members are being sequentially murdered without actually showing one of the key murders? Sigh.
“Voiceovers are for assholes”.
This Friday should see the launch of a new movie review podcast called the “Movie Bread Club” featuring Anit ‘On’ Bashar, Jennifer Jones and Lee Casey. And I only know this because my daughter is Jenn Jones and I have previewed the first episode. (It really is very good… watch out for it!)
In their discussion of “Train Dreams“, one of the team recounts his lecturer on a film studies course ranting that “Voiceovers are for assholes”! Regular readers of this blog will be fully aware that I share these sentiments 100%. There are few films that I feel benefit from some actor droning on about what he is doing or thinking instead of just – you know – SHOWING us. This film is sadly a typical case in point, where Mr Charisma himself, Glen Powell, drones on and on over the film in his role as the narrator of the story to Father Morris. It’s really unforgivably lazy and dull.
Margaret Qualley is M3gan 3.0.
From the trailer, I thought that Margaret Qualley’s Julia looked like being a really interesting character. And the initial ‘growing up’ sequence of the film (where Becket and Julia were played very nicely by Grady Wilson and Maggie Toomey respectively) had the relationship developing very sweetly. I thought that Julia might perhaps drop back into the story later as a loving, scheming accomplice. But in the end, she just become an unlikely spanner in Becket’s works. I didn’t believe anything that she was doing in her subplot and every time she appeared I inwardly groaned that we were trying to thrash more life out of a dead story angle.
An one point, she sneaks into Becket’s apartment wearing a white outfit and I swear I had a flashback to M3gan wearing her white dress! The similarity is uncanny!
At least there’s a nice twist in the tail.
Where the film briefly picked up for me was in the reason that Becket was now on death row. I didn’t really see that coming. But then, in the sequence after that, I would not have ended the film the way that they did: for me, the ending was most unsatisfactory and “meh”. A much darker ending was available to the writer but – as indeed in the original “Kind Hearts and Coronets” as I understand – the writer/director chickened out.
Summary Thoughts:
It’s…. fine. Barely. (I’m actually beginning to question whether my 2.5*s is over-generous.) As a popcorn diversion of a movie, it passed a few hours. But it is not the slam-dunk fun-feature that I was expecting from the trailer. Set your expectations accordingly.
Where to watch?
Trailer:
The trailer for the film is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BxBof_p3_es. As stated, this trailer has some significant scene-spoilers and is best avoided if possible.
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