Buffaloed (2020)
dir. Tanya Wexler
Rated: N/A
image: ©2020 Magnolia Pictures
The uninspired comedy Buffaloed takes a handful of gags and uses them over and over again to fill its feature length. The way the locals of Buffalo, NY speak is one of those gags. The way they look is another. And that’s really about it. The classic film Fargo also pokes fun at the way its characters speak. But there’s so much more under the surface of that film. Buffaloed is a one-note comedy that ends up feeling disposable.
Set in Buffalo, NY, the debt-collection capital of the world, Peggy Dahl is determined to be successful and break out of the chain of poverty in which she was raised. Her father died when she was very young, and her mother pays the bills (just barely) by running an unlicensed beauty salon out of her house. (Ten cent wing night at the local bar – this is Buffalo, remember – helped keep Peg and her brother fed on their mother’s tight budget when they were growing up.)
When Peg gets accepted to her dream college, she quickly realizes that she’ll never be able to pay for it. She turns to a string of petty cons to raise money until one of them lands her in the clink. She was scalping counterfeit tickets to games of the city’s beloved Buffalo Bills. Also, everyone in the movie pronounces “tickets” as “tix” because apparently that’s a funny Buffalo-ism.
When she gets out, now saddled with huge debt due to restitution payments and other hard breaks, Peg gets a call from one of the ruthless debt collectors who have bought her debt for pennies on the dollar. She sees potential in the business and starts working for Wizz, the self-proclaimed kingpin of Buffalo’s debt-collecting community. The two have a falling out – because Wizz screws Peg over – so Peg starts her own shop, cutting a deal with Wizz’s supplier of “paper,” the industry’s term for delinquent debt.
The movie stops at several points so that Peg can explain to us how the debt-collection world works. It’s very reminiscent of The Big Short, another movie I found tiring because it staged these same kind of didactic segments as flashy and slickly edited in order to make all the information go down easier. The tale of someone going from rags-to-riches using one of the most predatory mechanisms in our economy brings to mind The Wolf of Wall Street. That film had a despicable character at its center, but there is a sick fascination in gawking at his outrageous excesses.
Buffaloed is more content to lampoon the way the natives pronounce pop – it’s always “pahp,” as in, “You said there’d be pizza and pahp!” The movie tries to get a lot of mileage out of the gag of how funny Buffaloans(?) Buffaloites(?) look and sound. Sal, the collector who introduces Peg to the world of debt-collection, sports a supremely 1980s mullet. Everyone has a psychotic love for the Buffalo Bills. The townsfolk prefer two insults, hurled at every possible chance: jagoff and douchebag.
Screenwriter and actor Brian Sacca, who plays Sal in the film, is clearly writing from experience with his script for Buffaloed. Sacca hails from Lockport, NY, a city northeast of Buffalo. I note that one of his biggest acting roles to date was as a supporting player in The Wolf of Wall Street, which no doubt inspired the screenwriter for his feature debut.
The performances in Buffaloed are all enjoyable. Star Zoey Deutch, who also helped produce, turns in a spunky, mostly charming performance as Peg. Jai Courtney plays the villain, Wizz, a complete scumbag, at full volume. He also makes the character convincingly menacing. Veteran Judy Greer is delightful, as always, as Peg’s mom, Kathy. Greer has a lot of fun with the flat, New York state accent in her handful of scenes.
Jermaine Fowler is fine but forgettable (that’s partly to do with how Sacca gives his character nothing to do) as Peg’s love interest, Graham. Not only do Graham and Peg hook up, but Graham is also the Assistant District Attorney who prosecuted the case that sent Peg to the slammer. The rote, paint-by-numbers love story in Buffaloed is the least interesting thing about the movie. Deutch and Fowler’s chemistry is passable at best.
Buffaloed feels like a Saturday Night Live sketch that some ambitious cast member resolved to turn into a feature. Everyone talks and acts funny, and the movie revels in their risible behavior. Some of it works. There’s a bit of gold when one of Kathy’s regular salon customers describes a nightmare she had. She pulled John Travolta’s hair off his head, and all that was underneath was another John Travolta face. That funny accent – almost Midwesterner, but not quite – goes a long way in selling the joke.
Sacca wears his influences – The Big Short and The Wolf of Wall Street – on his sleeve. So much so that it’s obvious how much of a pale imitation his movie is by comparison. Buffaloed is funny and enjoyable enough in the moment, but it’s ultimately forgettable.
Why it got 2.5 stars:
- Buffaloed isn’t fun (or funny) enough for me to recommend. It’s trying to be The Big Short and The Wolf of Wall Street, but doesn’t have much under the surface with which to hold it’s own.
Things I forgot to mention in my review, because, well, I'm the Forgetful Film Critic:
- Because she never really knew him and wants a way to feel close to him, Peg spends the entire movie dressed in her dad’s old suits. Some inspired costume design makes her outfits for the whole movie funny and at the same time touching, when you consider why the character dresses the way she does.
Close encounters with people in movie theaters:
- I saw this through an online screening link. Buffaloed is currently available with a paid subscription to Hulu.