VOD film review: The Beta Test
Review Overview
Erotic
6Neurotic
10Pushing the envelope
Mark Harrison | On 13, Mar 2022
Director: Jim Cummings, PJ McCabe
Cast: Jim Cummings, PJ McCabe, Virginia Newcomb, Jessie Barr, Kevin Changaris
Certificate: 18
“You have been invited to an anonymous no-strings-attached sexual encounter with an admirer.” That’s the mysterious message that Jim Cummings’ squirrelly, alpha-presenting agent Jordan Hines receives in The Beta Test, kicking off a character portrait of infidelity, paranoia, and – as in Cummings’ previous films Thunder Road and The Wolf of Snow Hollow – masculinity in crisis.
When the fateful envelope arrives, Jordan is negotiating nebulous package deals at Hollywood agency APE with his agency partner PJ (played by co-writer/director PJ McCabe) and half-heartedly planning his wedding with fiancée Caroline (Virginia Newcomb). Constantly dissatisfied and ashamed of his own desires, he goes along for a no-strings encounter but nevertheless becomes tangled up in obsession and anxiety thereafter. Who sent the envelope? Who knows about it? And just who does Jordan think he is?
Though a filmmaker as prolific as Cummings could easily turn around and do a fourth or fifth film in this particular trend any day now, it’s tempting to look at his three credits to date as a thematic trilogy focusing on specific aspects of shattered masculinity and insecurity. All three performances feel distinct because of what drives them, whether it’s grief in Thunder Road, violent rage in The Wolf of Snow Hollow or the cocktail of desire and guilt that fuels The Beta Test.
Cummings is excellent as ever – you can’t take your eyes off Jordan no matter how much you’d sometimes like to. We’ve heard many comedy stars praise characters such as Basil Fawlty and Alan Partridge in interviews over the years, but we can’t think of anyone else who’s cited those inspirations, ran with them, and made them their own so brilliantly as Cummings – a manic, intense screen presence who’s as liable to break down in tears as he is to raise his voice.
It would be enough for some character portraits to have a talent agent with such appalling people skills, but the further exploration of modern masculinity and sexual dynamics sharpens the film to a fine point. There’s one recurring bit involving a consultant who’s teaching psychological warfare for agents to use on their clients and a separate late outburst consolidates the idea of toxic men being nostalgic for the days of no accountability whatsoever, going so far as to namecheck “Harvey” in its takedown of abusers.
Cummings has been open about his development process, which includes recording scripts as audio plays to see how they work, and he and McCabe have sharpened all of the finer points. The script balances its foreboding tone and squirrelly quotability magnificently, all while unfolding a paranoid mystery story.
The central thesis is powerful, persuasive stuff, but the film is slightly less effective in its swings at more traditional horror movie storytelling. A recurring beat involving angry, vengeful partners gives the film its shocking opening but then diminishes with each return. Happily, there’s more than enough terrifying cringe to be getting on with elsewhere and the true horror is more interiorised anyway.
As with the ensemble effort in The Wolf of Snow Hollow, it’s good to see the cast holding their own even as the film orbits around Cummings’ performance. McCabe is very funny, especially in a scene where he bristles at a bartender for interrupting his self-absorbed explanation of the plot, and Newcomb is terrific as Jordan’s increasingly disconcerted fiancée. There’s also a superb scene-stealing role for Kevin Changaris, another Cummings regular.
Less erotic than neurotic, The Beta Test is another thoroughly watchable workout for Jim Cummings’ unique screen presence, but it also benefits from a terrific and timely script. With its savage twist on the more conventional erotic thriller template, this is both a funny inside-baseball Hollywood satire and a mortifying exploration of male insecurity. It doesn’t push the envelope all the way through, but it certainly pulls you in.