By George & Josh Bate
What’s your favorite fast food joint? Chick-fil-A? Wendy’s? In-N-Out? Well, let’s say, after frequenting one of these restaurants on a weekly basis for as long as you can remember, you order an item on the menu that you’ve had a million times only to discover a severed human finger embedded in the food. That’s the jumping off point for Chili Finger, an aptly titled Fargo-esque black comedy bolstering an impressive ensemble and a frivolous tone unafraid to get rather dark and devious at times.
From directing duo Edd Benda and Stephen Helstad, Chili Finger follows Jessica (Judy Greer) and Ron (Sean Astin), a couple struggling with their finances whose daughter has recently left the family home for college. While eating at Ron’s favorite fast food restaurant Blake Juniors, Jessica discovers a severed human finger in her bowl of chili and proceeds to blackmail Blake Junior himself (John Goodman), the founder of the regionally successful fast food chain, for $100,000. As Jessica tries to navigate unfamiliar criminal behavior, Blake Junior deploys his ex-marine buddy Dave (Bryan Cranston) to investigate the truth behind the chili finger.
Spawning from such a clever premise, Chili Finger mirrors Fargo in telling a small-scale story of normal people whose turn toward criminal behavior sets off a chain of unintended consequences. Like the Coen Brothers’ masterpiece, Benda and Helstad’s film begins by shining a spotlight on an unassuming couple living a rather monotonous existence. Judy Greer’s Jessica Lipki can barely hide her weariness in light of becoming an empty-nester and not having enough money to afford a plane ticket to accompany her daughter to college. Meanwhile, Sean Astin’s Ron remains blissfully unaware of his wife’s lassitude and is instead singularly focused on matters like what’s for dinner that day, his weekly men’s group at Blake Juniors, and the prospect of enjoying a polka night with his wife.
The mundanity that characterizes the Lipki’s lives is suddenly uprooted when Jessica’s takes a spoonful of fast food chili, only to be astonished when she realizes she’s spooned a human finger into her mouth. Blake Jr. II (Madeline Wise), the business executive of Blake Juniors and daughter of John Goodman’s CEO, arrives on the scene with tactical precision, hoping to keep this potential PR fiasco under wraps. But as negotiations start between Blake Jr. II and the Lipkis, Jessica thinks on her feet and decides to make the most of a disgusting situation.
What ensues is a brilliantly droll negotiation that represents Chili Finger at its most wry and entertaining. While Jessica tries to blackmail Blake Jr. II, Ron becomes troubled by the fact that any deal made will prevent him from ever stepping foot in a Blake Juniors restaurant again, a prospect that troubles him immensely. Seeing how much value Ron places in his beloved burger joint, even as negotiations between the two men intensify and $10,000 quickly becomes $100,000, makes for a hilarious bit and encapsulates the tone of Benda and Helstad’s film rather perfectly. The characters are dealing with life-changing sums of money and, eventually, life-threatening circumstances, but they behave and deliver dialogue in quirky, deadpan ways that make it impossible not to chuckle.
Although initially centering exclusively on the Lipkis, Chili Finger broadens to a larger collective of characters as its premise kicks into gear. The most fascinating of these side players is Dave, a former marine and long-time friend of Blake Jr. who would not be out of place in a season of Fargo. Bryan Cranston plays Dave with a dopey, almost endearing Midwestern twang that belies his calculated way of thinking and the danger he poses. Dave’s inclusion in the story ramps up the stakes, especially as his winding investigation into the mystery of the chili finger takes several twists and turns. While not particularly unpredictable, the screenplay from Helstad does well to keep the viewer engaged as something as unusual as finding a finger in your fast food chili gives way to an ever-escalating series of events.
As the story progresses, Chili Finger proves unafraid to dabble in the darker side of the black comedy genre. The third act in particular takes some dark turns and invites the audience to reevaluate the moral standings of key characters we once thought highly of. Like Fargo, the film conveys how criminal behavior corrupts, and eventually destroys, anyone and everyone it touches.
For every step of the way of this winding tale, every member of the ensemble impresses with their ability to simultaneously tackle serious subject matter and operate within a silly tone. Judy Greer believably portrays a mother fed up with her life to such an extent that she would resort to blackmailing a fast-food chain to improve her life. Sean Astin is similarly great as the oblivious, single-minded husband, desperate to just keep going to his favorite restaurant. John Goodman evokes his performance as Eli Gemstone in The Righteous Gemstones, while Bryan Cranston stands out as scene-stealer, always adding an energy, spontaneity, and understated threat to every scene he’s in.
None of the performers, however, are given much opportunity to flex their acting muscles beyond dark comedy. The film teeters on giving Greer’s Jessica character a bit more depth but is ultimately resistant to fleshing her out and truly getting inside her head. This is not necessarily the kind of movie one watches to feel warm and fuzzy afterward, although coupling its wry humor with a bit more of dramatic weight for its characters would have taken the movie to another level of quality.
VERDICT: 7/10
Chili Finger is an aptly titled Fargo-inspired dark comedy bolstering an impressive ensemble, clever premise, and a frivolous tone unafraid to get dark and devious at times. The film from directors Edd Benda and Stephen Helstad mirrors the Coen Brothers’ masterpiece in a number of ways, namely by telling a small-scale story of normal people whose turn toward criminal behavior sets off a chain of unintended consequences. But like Fargo, Chili Finger tells this story with a droll humor as characters dealing with life-changing sums of money and, eventually, life-threatening circumstances while behaving and delivering dialogue in quirky, deadpan ways that make it impossible not to chuckle. The winding and ever-escalating, albeit not particularly unpredictable, story becomes all the more fascinating with the inclusion of Bryan Cranston, who delivers a scene-stealing performance as a former marine whose endearing Midwestern twang belies the danger he poses. Although an ensemble that also consists of Judy Greer, Sean Astin, and John Goodman impresses, none of the performers are afforded opportunities to flex their acting muscles beyond the dark comedy genre as the screenplay appears resistant to add much dramatic or emotional to its characters. Despite being not particularly emotionally moving nor laugh out loud funny, Chili Finger satisfies as a crime-tinged black comedy in the vein of Fargo and will likely entertain anyone who gravitates toward the Coen Brothers’ 1995 film, the myriad of movies it inspired, or the series of the same title. It’ll also make you think twice before ordering chili next time you’re at a fast-food restaurant.