There’s some deception at work in How to Make a Killing. And, no, it’s not the string of murders committed by Glen Powell’s Becket Redfellow in order to trim his family tree and secure a generous inheritance. It’s the fact that writer-director John Patton Ford’s film has been presented to us as “inspired by” the classic 1949 Ealing comedy Kind Hearts and Coronets, itself adapted from a 1907 novel.
“Inspired by” hardly covers it. How to Make a Killing is a conventional remake, replicating many of its characters and narrative beats, while failing to capture any of its frosty charm – or the trick of having Alec Guinness play eight different characters. Both director and star have shied away from the thrilling moral apathy of the original film’s antihero, played by Dennis Price, who declares it a stroke of good luck that two infant relatives of his have been struck down by diphtheria, while happily toying with the affections of two women. If Price ever does crack a smile, it’s unnaturally pinned at both sides by disdain.
