Most Likely to Murder
tells the story of Billy (Adam Pally), a popular kid in high school who
moved away from his hometown to live in Las Vegas. A lot can change in the years after graduation and Billy is about to find that out the hard way. Billy comes home for Thanksgiving expecting to
pick up right where he left off. The cast of characters from his high school years
is the same, but they have all seemingly moved on with their lives and grown up
while Billy is still trying to relive his glory days – so much so that he
refers to himself as the ‘King’ of their school. Even though Billy has moved
away, he still hasn’t gotten over his ex-girlfriend Kara (Rachel Bloom) and
reaches out to her periodically with messages oozing of desperation.
One of the first stops that Billy
makes when getting back into town is to meet up with his old friend Duane (co-writer
Doug Mand) and head to the local bar to reclaim his throne in front of his old
high school classmates. Instead, it starts to become crystal clear that Billy
may not be as cool as he thinks he is. On top of that, Kara is now dating Billy’s
creepy neighbor Lowell (Vincent Kartheiser). Billy responds as any level headed
adult would, he gets hammered. That night, Billy goes home and sees Lowell
acting incredibly strange – shirtless and screaming and throwing away mysterious
items in the wee hours of the night. The next morning Billy wakes up to see
paramedics wheeling a body out of Lowell’s house and into an ambulance – this has
to be a coincidence though…right?
Most Likely to Murder is a silly and offbeat murder mystery. It
never commits to being a comedy or a crime film which leaves it lacking in both
categories. Dan Gregor, who co-wrote and directed, and cowriter Mand do succeed
in highlighting the chemistry between the cast. Everyone plays off of each
other which helps drive the film forward. There are a small handful of
memorable scenes throughout, especially the annual Thanksgiving football game
and some great scenes with 90s references, but these scenes are few and far
between. Gregor and Mand manage to cleverly weave in high school interactions
that Billy had with classmates into the present – it’s great to see Billy desperately
trying to prove a murder to the Police, but the local officer can only fixate
on an alleged sex tape that Billy may have made in high school with his wife. Most Likely to Murder is a decent movie
that is fairly unique. The film won’t blow your socks off, but is worth a watch
to see some of the absurd moments that Billy and the other misfit cast of characters find themselves in. For all you know, Most
Likely to Murder might have you questioning your own high school
superlatives.
Rating: 2.5 out of 5
