Director: Tanya Wexler
Writer: Brian Sacca (Screenplay)
Starring: Zoey Deutch, Jai Courtney, Judy Greer, Jermaine Fowler, Noah Reid, Lusia Strus
Plot: Set in the underworld of debt-collecting and follows the homegrown hustler Peg Dahl, who will do anything to escape Buffalo, NY.
Tagline – You Can’t Always Take What You Want
Runtime: 1 Hour 35 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Story: Buffaloed starts follows Peg Dahl (Deutch) who has always looked at making money to have a life where she or her family, Kathy (Greer) or JJ (Reid) will ever have to worry about money again. Her determination will see her end up in jail, but this will see her learn her true calling, debt collecting.
After working under shady Wizz (Courtney), Peg looks to start her own business despite having a romantic interest with lawyer Graham (Fowler) who has been looking to bring down debt collectors.
Thoughts on Buffaloed
Characters – Peg has spent her whole life looking to improve her living position, with her parents always in debt, she has always looked to make money quick for herself, she deals by buying cheap or selling pricey, selling illegal tickets and just doing anything to get money off people, which sees her give up college after she gets caught and sent to prison. Once out Peg continues to look for a way to make money, which will see her become a debut collector. Wizz is the debt collector that runs the city, he has been crossing the line with his actions, which sees him becoming a rival that will always look to stop Peg getting further in her career. Kathy is Peg’s mother that has always supported her and had to deal with her debts that she has faced throughout raising her children. Graham is the lawyer that put Peg in jail, only when she is out, he looks to get close to her, though he wants nothing to do with the debt collecting side of things.
Performances – Zoey Deutch is fantastic in the leading role in this film, she fully commits the leading performance which will see her shine above the whole cast. Jai Courtney continues to prove himself as better acting than some of his bigger movies in the past have shown from him. The rest of the cast are great to watch through the film too.
Story – The story here follows an ambitious young woman that has always been driven to stay out of debt, which sees her look to create schemes to make money quick, shining in the debt collecting game, learning how difficult it will be. This story does take us into the underworld of debt collecting and shows us how some collectors will go to extreme measures to pressure the people into returning debt. We see the ambition to shine in a field from a driven personality and how upsetting the system will only cause more problems in life. The story does have weaknesses, which come mostly from not showing the impact the new business truly made against the competition and how much was really being thrown around within the debt collecting.
Comedy – The comedy in this film comes from seeing Peg with most of her interactions, where she can be calm one minutes and exploded the next.
Settings – The film is set in Buffalo, which shows us an area which is filled with debt, while still having a unite when it comes to sports.
Scene of the Movie – Angry Peg’s reactions.
That Moment That Annoyed Me – Not enough about the time period in which the debts were being collected.
Final Thoughts – This is a fun look at debt collecting despite it being a very difficult time for many involved, with a powerhouse leading performance and laughs along the way with the actions of the character.
