The Beta Test – Full Blown Mystery
Director: Jim Cummings, PJ McCabe
Writer: Jim Cummings, PJ McCabe (Screenplay)
Starring: Jim Cummings, PJ McCabe, Virginia Newcomb, Kevin Changaris, Olivia Grace Applegate, Jessie Barr, Malin Barr
Plot: A married Hollywood agent receives a mysterious letter for an anonymous sexual encounter and becomes ensnared in a sinister world of lying, infidelity, and digital data.
Runtime: 1 Hour 33 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Story: The Beta Test starts as we meet Hollywood agent Jordan (Cummings) who along with his business partner PJ (McCabe) is trying to seal the latest deal to keep their business on top in the agency world. Jordan gets a strange invitation about meeting for an anonymous sexual encounter in a hotel, while he starts seeing strange reactions around him in everyday life.
After Jordan goes through with the secret meeting, he sees the start of a new confidence boosts, but soon he starts to see his own life starting to crash around him, with his relationship with his business partner and fiancée Caroline (Newcomb) crashing down around him.
Thoughts on The Beta Test
Characters & Performances – Jordan Haines is a Hollywood agent running a successful firm, about to get married, with everything going for him. He however finds himself getting a note about having an anonymous sexual encounter, something he goes through with, only to find his life starting to crumble down around him, as he looks to investigate who is behind the secret meetings. Jim Cummings brings us a character that does feel like it wants to be in a sequel to Liar Liar, with the reactions showing how his characters life is spiralling out of control, this is a positive because it shows us just how unsettled his character has become by everything. This film does circle around Jordan, with the supporting characters being his fiancée who senses distance being put between them, his business partner who sees his strange behavior and the rest being the people he meets looking for answers.
Story – The story here follows a Hollywood agent that finds his life turned upside down after getting involved in an anonymous sexual encounter, learning he is part of a bigger picture going on around the country. This is a story that will put us in the position of following Jordan around, as we see how he tends to push people into working with him, with his fake promises, making him an unlikeable character in this world, we do get the bigger messages thrown out there about changes in the system and that it isn’t fair that things have changed this way, the power is gone from the agents in the industry. This story does offer up a big mystery, as we wait to see how everything will unfold, what is the bigger picture, leaving us all the questions.
Themes – The Beta Test is a mystery thriller that will show how one man will want to know answers about his life after committing to something he knows wasn’t right, leading him down a rabbit hole of what is truly going on. The LA setting is wonderful because it fills us with characters who believe they can get away with anything in this world.
Blue Finch Film Releasing presents The Beta Test in cinemas 15 October
Final Thoughts – The Beta Test is a mystery that keeps getting bigger the further Jordan goes down the rabbit hole.
