68 Kill (2017)

68 Kill is the kind of midnight-movie crime comedy that grabs you by the collar and never loosens its grip—pulpier than a paperback rack, meaner than you expect, and weirdly alive in every scene. Matthew Gray Gubler makes Chip a nervy, sympathetic screw-up you can’t help but root for, even as the film gleefully hurls him through escalating bad decisions, sharp laughs, and sudden bursts of mayhem. Director Trent Haaga keeps the vibe scrappy and inventive, balancing sleazy noir energy with offbeat humor that’s more “did that just happen?” than punchline-driven. Fair warning: it’s aggressively R-rated and unapologetically nasty at times, but if you can handle the grime, you’ll get a fast, twisted ride that’s far more entertaining than its budget suggests.

68 Kill is trying to be a manic, neon-stained crime-comedy where a spineless guy gets yanked through escalating chaos and finally grows a spine. The problem is the movie often confuses “edgy” with “ugly,” leaning hard into sexual violence, cruelty, and shock beats that can feel gratuitous rather than clever, which makes the laughs stick in your throat. It also sputters in the middle, with momentum and plausibility taking a hit as the story lurches from one nasty set piece to the next. If you like pitch-black, grindhouse-style mayhem and can handle severe gore and grim sexual content, there’s some twisted energy and committed performances here; if you’re hoping for a fun, breezy crime romp, this is not your night.