Social satire is tough to create and maintain.  Witness this attempt to satirize the meaning of fame and success in modern America, where anyone can be famous for pretty much anything, and the desire for such fame — and perceived acceptance — will drive a person to do just about anything.  Especially if that person is desperate to start.

Tate Taylor’s film introduces Sue Buttons (Allison Janney), a woman who feels totally (and justifiably) neglected in her life.  And then something horrible happens and she snaps.  From then on, Sue is determined to make the most of her situation and uses her personal affirmations to keep her sane in an increasingly crazy environment.  Coworkers, neighbors and relatives all try to make sense of the situation while a selection of bad guys and gals try to take advantage of it.  I’m being vague so not to spoil anything, but know that it gets violent and bloody, and Sue doesn’t really care.

What gets me about this (and other, similar, products of irony) is the notion that all of this misery and revenge and killing is supposed to be entertaining.  It is kind of amusing until the victims — most of them women — finish their parts in the story lying broken and battered and burned and blown away.  I counted ten characters who didn’t make it to the end of the movie alive, and that constitutes most of the cast.  This is comedy?  It’s no wonder we in America are learning to hate each other.

The cast includes Mila Kunis (as Janney’s half-sister!), Matthew Modine, Regina Hall, T. C. Matherne, Wanda Sykes, Ellen Barkin, Awkwafina, Jimmi Simpson, Keong Kim, Clifton Collins, Jr., Bridget Everett and Juliette Lewis.  That level of talent should demonstrate how its satirical edge will play, and how timely and popular the filmmakers believe this will become.  Maybe they are right, and maybe this is meant to be a cautionary tale.  But I doubt it, and I cannot recommend it.  ☆ ☆.  30 September 2021.