“You can’t make this shit up… and most of it, we didn’t,” Courteney Cox‘s latest directorial outing prefaces, an appropriate warning for the chaotic nature of the unbelievable true-crime saga at the center of Evil Genius.
In Evil Genius, adapted by screenwriter Courtenay Miles from the 2018 Netflix docuseries, Marjorie Diehl-Armstrong (Patricia Arquette) orchestrates the infamous 2003 “pizza bomber” heist that resulted in the gruesome death of Brian Wells (Tom McCarthy), who was kidnapped and forced to rob a PNC bank with a bomb stropped around his neck.
The film also dives into the inheritance scheme that sparked the heist, as well as the body in the freezer that led the police to the truth. But the heart of this story is the toxic years-long romance between Marjorie and her co-conspirator Bill Rothstein (David Harbour), an equally cunning player who was blinded by love.
Whereas many true-crime movies spend nearly the entire first act introducing its characters and creating exposition before getting to the crime at hand, Cox wastes none of the lean 94-minute runtime, immediately establishing the pair’s dysfunctional dynamic in the absurd high-stakes situation they’ve created for themselves.
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Harbour and Arquette truly get lost in their characters, with the former nearly unrecognizable in his prosthetic nose and fake beard. Hopper who? Meanwhile, Arquette is an onscreen force as the manipulative spitfire Marj. Two people with little redeeming qualities, they ultimately deserve each other.
Rounding out the ensemble as the crew of idiots to their unhinged geniuses are Michael Chernus, Garret Dillahunt, Danielle Macdonald and Owen Teague, each bringing these real co-conspirators to life with the appropriate balance of depth and dark humor.
The recreated surveillance and news footage of Wells is chilling to watch, especially given McCarthy’s grasp of the fear that ran through Wells during the police standoff in the final minutes of his life, knowing he’s a pawn in someone else’s deadly crime.
While it’s still considered a dark comedy at times, it takes the very real consequences of its subject matter seriously, unlike a previous 2011 title that may or may not have been a loose take on the tragic incident.
One such comedic element comes into play during the heist itself, as two bank employees (David Arquette and Christine Taylor) struggle to make sense of the masterminds’ overcomplicated pre-written instructions. The jokes are never at the expense of the tragedy, but at the ridiculous nature of the events that transpired around it.
Meanwhile, the movie never asks the audience to redeem these people or even empathize with them, but it questions how Marj and Bill went from two smart, lovestruck teens to where they ended up.
More than a decade after her directorial debut, Cox packs a heavy punch with Evil Genius, thanks to an incredible, committed ensemble (featuring Courteney and former sister-in-law Patricia’s daughters in cameos) and a faithful approach to the true story that still offers moments of levity during the dark tragedy captured onscreen.
Title: Evil Genius
Festival: TIFF
Section: Gala Presentations
Director: Courteney Cox
Screenwriter: Courtenay Miles
Cast: Patricia Arquette, David Harbour, Michael Chernus, Garret Dillahunt, Ryan Eggold, Gregory Alan Williams, Tom McCarthy, Owen Teague, Harlow Jane, David Rasche, Dascha Polanco, Danielle Macdonald, Thomas Michael Allen
International sales agent: Cornerstone Films
Running time: 1 hr 34 mins
