There is a certain charm to an actor who doesn’t shy away from playing the fool, especially when that actor is also the writer, director, and producer of the film. Jim Cummings is one of the newest multihyphenates in Hollywood, and he is not afraid to be a dunce.
Cummings has been directing and writing for over a decade, but he made his first major splash in 2018 with Thunder Road. Based on his own short film, Thunder Road stars Cummings as an awkward police officer who is losing his struggle with grief. Rather than playing as a tragedy, the film is an intersection of serious and silly, and Cummings makes it brilliant.
In The Beta Test, Cummings repeats the formula, mixing humor with morbidity at his character’s expense. He stars as a cutthroat Hollywood agent named Jordan, who seemingly has it all—a good job, a flashy car, a beautiful fiancée, and a shallowly perfect life.
Jordan’s trajectory is interrupted when he receives a hand-lettered purple envelope, which leads to an anonymous sexual encounter at a fancy hotel. This launches him on an obsessive search to find the source of the letter. The film offers glimpses into the lives of other people whose relationships were walloped after receiving the same purple envelope, and it adds gravity to Jordan’s pursuit of the truth.
Oddly, Jordan’s obsession with the source of these invitations is not driven by his need to protect his relationship or a lust to find the sexy stranger. Instead, he needs to get to the bottom of this dark web because he cannot handle the lack of control.
The cryptic investigation coincides with a crumbling business deal and rising tension with his fiancée (Virginia Newcomb) just weeks ahead of their wedding. His preoccupation highlights the existing cracks in his artificially perfect life.
Cummings is incredible as the obsessed, focused-yet-bumbling Jordan. He often lets awkward moments hang a beat longer than expected, to the point of ridiculousness. Jordan is never framed as a good, selfless guy, but he thinks the world sees him this way. He lies poorly, but thinks he is the smartest guy in the room and cannot fathom anything less. Watching his ego and his life get chipped away by his own doing is tasty and satisfying.
Where The Beta Test falls short is with its social agenda. It teases Jordan as the kind of guy who thinks the #MeToo movement is going to come after him, but never fully incorporates that into his fears and paranoia. Granted, there are plenty of other issues in Jordan’s life that distract from his grasp of cancel culture, but the hint of this threat makes it feel like an underdeveloped idea. Also, as The Beta Test gets closer to the truth, it begins to flirt with the ramifications of certain digital security issues, but in a manner that is rushed and merely tacked on.
Still, The Beta Test is an entertaining exercise in watching a self-involved Hollywood player slowly come to the realization that he is neither all-powerful nor all-knowing.
Watching his assumed powers slip between his fingers while he flails is a mean-spirited way for Cummings to take a swing at his fellow celluloid elites. No doubt he has met these kinds of egomaniacs, and his taking them down a peg in a fictional manner is a pleasure to watch.
The Beta Test
NR, 93 minutes
Alamo Drafthouse Cinema