Movie Review: Buffaloed (2020)

Summary: Set in the underworld of debt-collecting and follows the homegrown hustler Peg Dahl, who will do anything to escape Buffalo, NY.

This will be a short review.

Pros:

Zoey Deutch. There are a lot of characters in this movie but the movie works because of her. She’s great and hilarious in this movie. Her character is so chaotic that it fits into this crazy world that was created for this movie. Peg is obsessed with money and do whatever she can to make money, even as a little girl. She keeps getting into trouble because she goes too far even though she is extremely smart when it comes to finances. She just can’t seem to make morally smart decisions when it comes to it though, at least most of the time. Her delivery of her lines, the chemistry she has with everyone else and she’s just so funny! Even if I didn’t like this movie (which I do), she’s great, the best thing about it.

Chaotic. This movie is absurd and chaotic and I thoroughly enjoyed that. That is all lol.

Money is the Root of all Evil. Just as I said in my Hustlers review lol, money ruins everything if you let it! Peg has always been obsessed with money and allows it to overtake her better judgement sometimes. She makes risky choices, even though she’s smart and can think on her feet, she doesn’t think of what the long-term consequences can be. It ruins almost everyone in this movie lol.

Learned Stuff. Debt collectors are BAD! lol but for real, she talks a lot about finances and money and I was like “wow, that’s some interesting stuff I didn’t know”. I probably retained nothing but I liked that the movie broke the fourth wall a lot of times and explained. It fit in with the tone.

Cons:

Parts of the Story. I don’t think overall it’s ridiculous but the fact that there are basically mafia and kingpin like characters that are debt collectors is so stupid to me. It’s funny and its kind of works in the movie but since we don’t do anything with any of them except towards the end, I literally did not care. It was treated like a legit mafia thing and I couldn’t help but roll my eyes any time it was brought up. I need to know if this is a thing though. I also didn’t care that much for any of the side characters, outside of her mom and brother (I liked her brother) you don’t really get the chance to know any of them outside of the fact that Peg uses them to get what she wants.

Peg Learns Nothing. So the jury was out on this as I continued the movie because I didn’t want to assume that she wouldn’t learn anything by the end because of the amoral choices she makes buuut at the end I said “yep, she learned nothing”. I don’t always mind when a character learns nothing in their movie, but I feel like in this case, Peg should have learned something, and she didn’t. She makes choices to help herself, she’s selfish, and doesn’t always think through what the consequences would be on other people. She sometimes tries to do things for the benefit of the ones she loves, but at the end of it all, it’s about her. It’s funny but also sad because this girl will probably continue to eff up the people’s lives around her.

Overall, I enjoyed this movie a lot. It’s funny and kept me entertained the entire time. Zoey Deutch was so good, her delivery of her lines, her chaotic energy and how she made Peg likable and unlikable at the same time was fantastic. I learned a few things about debt lol and money because the movie allows Peg to break the fourth wall and speak to us. Money is the root of all evil, and the film itself is also just chaotic lol. However, I did not care for the mafia of debt collecting agencies storyline, it felt tacked on and just outrageous. Peg also learns nothing even though there is clear set up that she would. I didn’t care for that. But the film is great! Check it out!

Rating: 3.89 out of 5 stars.

Have you seen Buffaloed? If so, what are your thoughts? Tell me in the comments below!

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