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The art world can be entirely unpredictable—with new artists rising and falling seemingly at random. But when you take that artistic unpredictability and mix in a bunch of criminals in The Kill Room, you end up with a wildly over-the-top dark comedy.
The Kill Room stars Uma Thurman as struggling gallery owner Patrice. The art in her gallery isn’t selling, and she can’t even afford to pay to her low-end drug dealer. When the crime world—in the form of a kosher baker with a few dark secrets (Samuel L. Jackson)—comes calling with an offer she can’t refuse, a lucrative money laundering scheme accidentally turns hitman Reggie (Joe Manganiello) into an overnight avant-garde superstar. But while Patrice is once again an important player in the art world, she’s also caught up in some deadly business that she can’t escape.
Reggie’s paintings were never meant to be anything more than a money laundering front, but their original plan quickly spirals out of control. Patrice realizes that she can use their sky-high prices to play the system and attract renewed attention to her gallery—and to her other artists, too. But all of the attention comes at a price—because while the eyes of art dealers and collectors are on Patrice, so are those of her underworld business partners. And they’re not happy about it.
What plays out, then, is messy and amusing and often completely over-the-top. Samuel L. Jackson gets to go full Samuel L. Jackson, shouting out his signature expletives through his fake-Jewish beard. Uma Thurman often matches his energy, taking her character’s dramatics to extremes, while Joe Manganiello plays it straight as the hitman with a heart. But most of the personalities here are big and noisy and often comically overdone—and it seems as though more of the dialogue is shouted than spoken, which just makes everything feel a little bit crazier and more hectic.
Nothing here is especially mind-blowing, but it’s a little bit clever and a little bit comical. It’s clear that the stars had a great time camping it up in this wild crime caper—and that just makes it fun to watch, too.
With its likable stars and its madcap art world thriller, The Kill Room may not be an award-worthy adventure, but it is an entertaining one. It’s a fun, action-packed comedy that’s a worthy choice for some brainless Friday night viewing.
You can join in the art world chaos when The Kill Room arrives in theaters on September 29, 2023.
Listen to the review on Reel Discovery:
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