B.J. Novak opens his debut feature “Vengeance,” which he wrote, directed and stars in, with a scene of acidic social commentary that lays the tone for the smart satire of contemporary media culture that ensues. In a scene that targets the mating rituals of the urban-dwelling modern American cad, interspersed into the opening credits with an almost jarring violence, Ben (Novak), a writer for The New Yorker, and the unlikely, sometimes unlikeable, hero of “Vengeance,” parries back and forth with his friend John (played by singer John Mayer) about their vapid dating lives.
As they debate the merits of seeing six women or three, question whether a cellphone contact labeled “Brunette Random House Party” refers to a woman met at at publishing event or a just a “random house party,” and falsely declare that they’re not afraid of emotional intimacy, Novak does something important with his character: he makes him a buffoon, first and foremost, in this bracing setup that allows him to carefully thread the needle on his American tale.
In “Vengeance,” Novak sets his sights on lampooning the big city media types who go chasing stories in middle America and return with observations from the “flyover states” that are usually condescending, preachy or inauthentic, and in doing so, he finds the humor, and something honest too.
