HOW TO MAKE A KILLING

The film opens in a prison, where Becket Redfellow (Glen Powell) is four hours away from being executed. He is visited by a priest, Father Morris (Adrian Lukis), who sits down to listen to Becket’s story and how he came to his current predicament.

Becket’s mother Mary (Nell Williams) was part of the wealthy Redfellow clan living in Huntington, Long Island. However, after she became pregnant with Becket, her father Whitelaw (Ed Harris) forced her to choose between getting rid of her baby or raising him outside of the family. Becket’s father died of a pulmonary embolism during his birth, leaving Mary to raise Becket (Grady Wilson) in New Jersey. At school, Becket met Julia Steinway (Maggie Toomey) and developed a sort of romance with her. Eventually, Mary got sick and passed away, leaving Becket with a locket containing a piece of her hair, and she had him promise to not give up until he earned the life that he deserves. When Becket tries to go to the Redfellows for help, they simply send him a typed up note refusing to offer help.

As an adult, Becket works at a clothing store when he runs into Julia (Margaret Qualley) after many years apart. She has married a former classmate, Lyle (James Frecheville), who also knew Becket from childhood and looks down upon him. Becket also learns his job is being replaced by the manager’s college dropout son. Tired of his current position, Becket decides to go after his inheritance.

Becket knows he has seven relatives ahead of him in line for the Redfellow fortune. He starts by following his cousin Taylor (Raff Law), a hard-partying Wall Street bro whom Becket is able to find easily due to his appearances at local clubs. Becket sneaks into a party at Taylor’s lakeside home and follows him on a jetski to his boat out on the water since Taylor is alone. Becket manages to catch Taylor very drunk, and he thinks Becket is maintenance for the boat. Becket grabs the boat’s anchor and ties the rope to Taylor’s ankle. Just as he is starting to have second thoughts about committing murder, Taylor startles Becket, and he drops the anchor, which pulls Taylor into the water and drowns him. Becket leaves, feeling it was too easy.

Becket attends Taylor’s funeral and meets his uncle, Taylor’s father Warren (Bill Camp). He tells Warren who he really is, and Warren invites him out for a drink. He admits that he feels bad that he wasn’t there for Mary or Becket when they needed help, and he wants to make amends now by inviting Becket to start a job at Warren’s business, which he accepts.

Becket starts to work a nicer job before he meets his other cousin, a wannabe artist named Noah (Zach Woods). Becket introduces himself to Noah and gets closer to him. He also meets Noah’s girlfriend Ruth (Jessica Henwick), who becomes mutually attracted to Becket.

Ruth invites Becket to a dinner party with Noah and other friends. He attends but sneaks off to Noah’s dark room for photo development and adds toxic materials to the chemicals that would cause an explosion when mixed together if they come into contact with a spark. Becket plants a cigarette for Noah but also breaks a lightbulb. He leaves his jacket behind so that Ruth can go run after him and give it to him, and they share their first kiss moments before Noah enters his dark room and tries to turn on the light. The spark from the broken bulb sets off the chemicals, blowing Noah up.

After Noah’s funeral, Becket is approached by FBI Agents Megan Pinfield and Brad Matthews (Phumi Tau and Stevel Marc) after the suspicious deaths of Taylor and Noah. Becket denies any knowledge that he has any stake in the Redfellow inheritance, which gets the agents off his back for now. Later, he is approached at his job by Julia, who seems to imply she knows something shady happened with Becket’s cousins.

Becket’s next target is his cousin Steven (Topher Grace), a pastor of a megachurch who has seen his share of controversies and lawsuits. Becket poses as a reporter and goes to Steven’s church to interview him. He gets Steven distracted and drops a toxin into his shake, but Steven takes out a samurai sword and threatens Becket, thinking he is a reporter there to do a hit piece on him. After Becket reveals who he is, Steven calms down and drinks his shake. Becket leaves before Steven dies of a heart attack.

Becket kills his aunt Cassandra (Bianca Amato) by poisoning her in a sauna, and then takes out his uncle McArthur (Alexander Hanson) by sabotaging him before he piloted a plane, leading to his demise. Becket’s career and relationship with Ruth start getting better, and he moves into a nice new apartment with her and even gets engaged. However, Julia keeps trying to worm her way into Becket’s life after she learns that Lyle lost all their money, and he keeps ignoring her.

Warren suffers a heart attack and spends his final moments in the hospital with Becket. Pinfield and Matthews approach Becket after Warren’s funeral to tell him they now know (they think they are giving him new info) that Becket does stand to inherit the Redfellow fortune.

Julia comes forward to Becket to tell him that she has had someone follow him since Taylor’s death and she knows that he is responsible for the deaths of his family members. She blackmails him for $300,000 to give to Lyle in a check to keep quiet. He goes to Lyle’s office with the check, but he gets into an altercation with Lyle since he knows that Julia loves Becket more. Lyle is left crying pathetically on the floor.

Becket later gets invited to a dinner party to meet Whitelaw for the first time, but it happens to be at the same time as his engagement party with Ruth. He arrives at Whitelaw’s mansion and finds it is only the two of them. They have dinner, and Becket questions why his grandfather never helped his daughter. Whitelaw takes Becket to a room where he invites him to shoot him in the chest with a rifle. Becket cannot bring himself to do it, so Whitelaw attempts to kill Becket himself. Becket runs into a room with a bow and arrow, and he fires two arrows into Whitelaw, killing him. Becket is now the last Redfellow. He returns home to Ruth long after all their guests have left, and he tries to explain himself to her.

Becket and Ruth are later inducted into a New York high society club, but the event is soured when Pinfield and Matthews arrive to arrest Becket for the murder of Lyle. He was found dead in his office, stabbed with a letter opener that Becket had touched when handing off his check. Becket goes on trial and is deemed guilty, with him unable to prove his innocence without admitting to his other crimes. He is set to be executed, but Julia gives him an out by saying that she can give police a suicide note she found from Lyle if Becket agrees to sign over the entire Redfellow fortune to her. Desperate, Becket has no choice and agrees to it.

Becket reaches the end of his story with Father Morris, who has questioned throughout the story why Becket didn’t stop when he was at a steady career and relationship with Ruth. Becket resigns to his fate until a guard shows up and frees him, as Julia gave the note to the police.

Becket is released and sees Ruth outside. She wordlessly gives him back his mother’s locket that he gave to her, and she drives off. He then joins Julia, who brings him back to the Redfellow mansion with her.