The Beta Test

The actor-director Jim Cummings follows up his Thunder Road with another strikingly individual work blending comedy and drama.

The actor Jim Cummings made his mark as a filmmaker with 2018’s Thunder Road. In addition to giving a stunning performance in the lead role, he was the film’s writer, director and editor. It was a tour-de-force and one that he repeats now with The Beta Test, albeit that this time he shares the directorial and writing credits with his co-star PJ McCabe. The result is a notably individual work which, in a variation on the blend of comedy and drama found in Thunder Road, combines a satire on Hollywood life with a plot that could readily be categorised as a thriller. The fusion is, it has to be said, less than perfect, but it gives a very personal flavour to the enterprise and one that admirers of Cummings will relish.

In The Beta Test Cummings plays a talent agent named Jordan Hines. He’s a man who, despite being engaged to his girlfriend, Caroline (Virginia Newcomb), devotes all of his time and energy to the work that he does with his partner, PJ (PJ McCabe). Always closing deals and seeking new clients to represent, Jordan’s life-style calls for insincerity, flattery and whatever face feels appropriate at any given time. His business motto is “Too Strong To Fail” but, in truth, Jordan is constantly insecure even though he tries to hide it. In acting this role, Cummings is brilliant at suggesting the inner vulnerability hidden behind the public image.

McCabe’s relaxed manner as Jordan’s partner provides a contrast that makes them an ideal screen duo and the satire is mainly very well judged. As for the other central thread, that revolves around the fact that somebody is sending out invitations to a range of people, one of the recipients being Jordan. They arrive in distinctive purple envelopes and offer a no strings attached sexual rendezvous in an L.A. hotel. Jordan may have a fiancée but he can’t resist accepting. One might expect an unpleasant outcome here, but in fact Jordan gets off on it and then finds himself obsessed as to the identity of the girl he had encountered. Since both had initially been masked for the meeting and the girl’s face had never been clearly seen, every girl he sees and who notices him makes him wonder if she was the one. In fact, this set-up does prove to be one that involves deaths, but they come about unplanned and occur when others confess to their partners about accepting the invitation and find that this admission unleashes anger that leads to violence. Even so, to describe this film as a horror movie as some have done is quite misleading.

As the film proceeds we follow Jordan’s attempts to uncover who is behind the invitations and, on more than one occasion, in order to justify the questions he is asking he poses as a police officer. Unfortunately, the way in which these scenes are handled falls uncomfortably mid-way between the film’s two tones and then, with the satirical element fading away, the film leads to a resolution that lacks conviction dramatically. There are times too when a certain self-conscious artiness becomes apparent (it is present in the film’s use of music, including classical extracts, and in the decision to feature a number of brief intercuts inserted into longer scenes). But, if one ultimately concludes that some sequences are far more telling than others, there is absolute consistency in the quality of the acting, especially that of Cummings himself, and in the film’s sardonic view of contemporary Hollywood life. The film’s pleasures easily outweigh its disappointments.

MANSEL STIMPSON

Cast: Jim Cummings, Virginia Newcomb, PJ McCabe, Kevin Changaris, Jessie Barr, Malin Barr, Jacqueline Doke, Wilky Lau, Ammar Aldieri, Bryan Casserly.

Dir Jim Cummings and PJ McCabe, Pro Natalie Metzger, Matt Miller and Benjamin Wiessner, Screenplay Jim Cummings and PJ McCabe, Ph Kenneth Wales, Pro Des Charlie Textor, Ed Jim Cummings, Music Jeffrey Campbell Binner and Ben Lovett, Costumes Stephani Lewis.

Vanishing Angle/DiffeRent Productions/Sons of Aigor Films-Blue Finch Releasing.
93 mins. USA/UK. 2021. Rel: 15 October 2021. Cert. 18.