Miranda July's third feature follows the Dynes, a family of small-time Los Angeles grifters, and their 26-year-old daughter Old Dolio (Evan Rachel Wood), who was raised as an accomplice rather than a child. When a stranger named Melanie (Gina Rodriguez) joins one of their schemes, the family's closed little world starts to crack. Kajillionaire premiered at Sundance in January 2020 and reached theaters through Focus Features that September. Critics were broadly won over: Wikipedia reports a 90% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes and a "generally favorable" 78 on Metacritic.
What critics loved
The performances came first. Mel Valentin at ScreenAnarchy called Wood's turn "pitch-perfect" and said she keeps a potentially cartoonish character from tipping into caricature. Lou Thomas at NME found Wood excellent, Debra Winger deliciously un-maternal and Richard Jenkins hilarious. Several critics singled out Rodriguez: Variety's Peter Debruge called her "the real revelation," the first person to truly see Old Dolio.
Reviewers also warmed to what sits under the oddness. Debruge argued the film is really about connection rather than the con, and Leah Greenblatt at Entertainment Weekly praised July's tender, searching curiosity, along with the way Jenkins and Winger reveal the messier motives behind their characters' coldness. Valentin credited July's singular voice, and Thomas summed it up as a strange, refreshingly unique film that leaves viewers glad they saw it.
Where critics split
The complaints were mostly about tone. Greenblatt found the film too precious at times and felt Wood's performance occasionally skirts silliness. Brian Eggert at Deep Focus Review was the coolest of the group, finding the first half stilted, Melanie's inner life underwritten, and the whole thing more conventional than July's earlier work. Even its fans warned it won't suit everyone: Valentin noted July's eccentricities may lose viewers who prefer the mainstream, and the Rotten Tomatoes consensus says it will strike people as either refreshingly unique or simply bizarre.
The consensus
Critics saw Kajillionaire as a carefully made, beautifully acted film from a filmmaker with her own voice, which earns it a strong QC. Fun lands a little lower: it has real comedy and a warm payoff, but its deadpan, deliberately awkward rhythm takes some adjusting to, and reviewers agreed the first stretch asks for patience before the heart of the story arrives.
Sources
- Wikipedia: Kajillionaire (Rotten Tomatoes, Metacritic, release details)
- Variety: Kajillionaire review (Variety)
- Entertainment Weekly: Crime barely pays in Miranda July's darkly whimsical grifter tale (Entertainment Weekly)
- NME: Kajillionaire review (NME)
- ScreenAnarchy: Oddball charms and genuine emotion in equal measure (ScreenAnarchy)
- Deep Focus Review: Kajillionaire (Deep Focus Review)