How to Make a Killing Director Also Directed Aubrey Plaza’s Best Performance

John Patton Ford’s new film How to Make a Killing invites a second look at his previous work, particularly Emily the Criminal, which turned Aubrey Plaza from a deadpan comic presence into a quietly unsettling dramatic threat. That earlier film doubled as a sharp critique of capitalism and staged one of the most effective on-screen identity shifts of recent years.

In Emily the Criminal Plaza plays Emily Benetto, a millennial crushed by $70,000 in student debt, a minor assault charge that blocks steady employment, and a string of underpaying gigs. An entry-level fraud scheme pulls her into increasingly risky thefts, and the film traces how survival instincts war with moral compromise until Emily becomes a ruthless, adaptable operator.

How to Make a Killing explores similar territory. Glen Powell’s Becket Redfellow, driven by a deathbed injunction to “get the life you deserve,” slides into a half-baked plan to bump off family members and claim an inheritance.

aubrey plaza, emily benetto, patton ford, becket redfellow, glen powell, student debt, fraud scheme, capitalism critique, identity shift, moral compromise