THE RIVALS OF AMZIAH KING is one odd mashup of genres and tones. It’s an indie comedy, hangout movie and series of banjo jams, but also a crime and revenge thriller. For a while it’s almost too cute and wholesome, but it ends up a little too harsh and ruthless. There are many laughs, a few shocks, plenty of heart. Despite the title it’s not based on a book or short story. It’s filmed in Alabama but set in Oklahoma in an industry one character refers to as “the bee arts.”
Matthew McConaughey (THE PAPERBOY) plays the title character, a charming beekeeper with many friends he plays music with in community centers, living rooms, and a drive-in barbecue joint. (There are songs by the Avett Brothers and Ben Hardesty, if that means anything to you.) After an opening song that makes it seem like it’s gonna be a musical, police approach him for help identifying the source of honey found in a stolen truck. It becomes sort of a procedural about Amziah and associates spitballing how to melt down the wax in a barrel of honey overnight, but before they can even start there’s a ridiculous/horrifying industrial accident and suddenly he’s at a hospital comforting a newly disfigured friend-of-a-friend he just met and made fun of (Tony Revolori, SCREAM VI). And that’s not the most drastic shift in the story. (read the rest of this shit…)
