In just three feature films, Jim Cummings has perfected a distinctive kind of character -- an insecure man who masks his emotional immaturity by wielding a position of traditional masculine authority. However, that same character only undermines his projection of strength by breaking down under pressure. In Cummings' first feature film, 2018's Thunder Road, that character was a small-town police officer dealing with personal trauma. Cummings has since transposed the character type into genre stories, first with last year's werewolf movie The Wolf of Snow Hollow and now with darkly comedic conspiracy thriller The Beta Test.
Joined this time by co-writer and co-director PJ McCabe, Cummings is less interested in getting audiences to sympathize with his toxic Hollywood agent Jordan Hines than he was with his previous films' protagonists. Jordan is an unambiguously terrible guy, even if much of his terrible behavior is driven by a pathological need for external validation. He's an up-and-coming agent at pointedly named company APE, constantly plastering on a fake smile and feigning enthusiasm for things like signing Tiger Woods to direct an all-dog remake of Caddyshack. He's engaged to the nice but bland Caroline (Virginia Newcomb), whom he treats like just another component of his careful image-building, alongside his leased Tesla.
So when Jordan is drawn into a shadowy conspiracy involving extortion and data harvesting, it's tough to see it as anything other than his fault. One day in the mail he gets a fancy embossed card inviting him to "an anonymous no-strings-attached sexual encounter with an admirer." It comes with a reply card that looks like it belongs with a wedding invitation, only instead of choosing meal options, respondents check off different sexual roles and fetishes. Jordan agonizes over whether to respond, but he's clearly the kind of guy who wouldn't pass up a chance like this, and he finally gives in to his impulses and sends his RSVP.
From there, he's sent a key card to a hotel room, where he dons a blindfold and has what appears to be a rapturous experience with a strange woman, who's also blindfolded. But immediately after leaving, Jordan becomes paranoid and suspicious, obsessed with finding out who's behind this bizarre experiment. Many filmmakers would use this as the jumping-off point for a noir-ish mystery, and Cummings and McCabe channel a bit of David Fincher's The Game. But they're more interested in surreal absurdity, and The Beta Test owes as much to David Lynch's classic head trip Mulholland Drive as it does to more conventional thrillers.
Even as Jordan's investigation takes ludicrous turns, Jordan remains a sharp parody of the slick, fast-talking agents found in showbiz stories. One minute, he's full of swagger, providing his timid assistant with motivational pointers. The next minute he's desperate and convinced that that same assistant has made a lewd remark about his secret sexual liaison. There are multiple instances of Jordan storming into a situation ready to take control, only to fold almost immediately under the pressure of pretending to be someone he's not.
The character may be similar to ones that Cummings has played before, but he's still fascinating to watch and often hilarious. The Beta Test is a scathing takedown of Hollywood phonies. Cummings shows Jordan's vulnerability and deep-seated self-loathing, generating sympathy without ever letting Jordan off the hook for his destructive narcissism. McCabe plays Jordan's slightly more well-adjusted colleague and friend, but no one in their world of deals and glad-handing comes off as anything more than a smarmy douchebag.
The Hollywood satire remains consistently funny, but the thriller plot lacks focus, becoming more confusing and convoluted as it goes along. Cummings and McCabe have an incisive perspective on Hollywood, but their message about social media and data mining is less cohesive. The Beta Test opens with a powerful, shocking scene of a couple who've previously been targeted by this same scheme, with some disturbingly casual violence. The violence continues sporadically, as Jordan discovers other people who've been ensnared in the conspiracy, but The Beta Test never quite connects its satirical and suspenseful elements.
The Beta Test is still entertaining and audacious, though, demonstrating how far Cummings has progressed as a filmmaker in just a few years. On a tiny budget, Cummings and McCabe conjure up an entire shady world of clandestine meetings and unseen power brokers, bringing the audience along with Jordan as he descends into madness. The eventual destination is a bit underwhelming, but The Beta Test provides a pretty wild ride along the way.
The Beta Test opens Friday, Nov. 5 in select theaters and on VOD.