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Over the past six months, many of us have had a whole lot of family togetherness time. We’ve binge-watched TV shows together. We’ve done schoolwork and baked bread. But even during the extra togetherness and general strangeness of this year, I think it’s safe to say that things never got as strange as they are for the family in Kajillionaire.
Kajillionaire tells the remarkably quirky story of an awkward young woman named Old Dolio (Evan Rachel Wood), who’s spent her life running small-time cons with her parents (Richard Jenkins and Debra Winger). During one of their cons, her parents meet Melanie (Gina Rodriguez), who’s fascinated by their Ocean’s Eleven-like lifestyle. But when they bring Melanie in to help with their latest con, it completely changes the dynamic of the family’s all-business relationship. And as Old Dolio watches the way that her parents interact with this outsider, it makes her question her cold and uncaring upbringing.
After all, nothing about this family is normal. They’re constantly trying to pull off bizarre little scams to pay the meager rent for their unusual home: a cubicle-filled office that leaks what appears to be toxic foam through cracks in the wall. They’re always on the lookout for a new way to con their next $100. And this life of skimming and scamming is the only one that poor Old Dolio knows.
Evan Rachel Wood makes this painfully awkward character strangely likable, despite her rough edges. She’s never been held. She’s never had a friend. She’s never been anything but a pawn (and equal partner) in her parents’ schemes. Family, friendships, love…these are all completely foreign subjects. In some ways, she’s a grown woman who still behaves like a child—yet, at the same time, she sometimes seems like she’s aged well beyond her years.
Everything here feels off-balance and even off-putting. It’s entirely wacky and far from mainstream—and that could very well turn off a lot of viewers. But after a while, you’ll get so settled into the quirkiness of it all that the poignant moments are so much more surprising, more striking. When the closing credits roll, you may find yourself scratching your head and wondering what you just witnessed, but it has some unexpectedly moving moments, too.
Kajillionaire definitely isn’t the typical comedy. An oddly comedic crime caper family drama like one requires the right viewer in the right mood. But if you’re in the mood for something completely unusual, it’s worth taking a chance on Old Dolio.
Listen to the review on Reel Discovery:
