BUFFALOED came out earlier this year, right before coronavirus as a rental, but I bid my time and waited for it to come to a streaming service I currently have, and lo and behold, Hulu just got it. I’ve wanted to see it because Zoey Deutch is in it, the daughter of Back To The Future’s Lea Thompson, and no matter how crappy or sappy the project that Ms. Deutch is in, she always…ALWAYS livens it up. Not to mention she is nice to look at and I happen to have her autograph on a theatrical poster of a different movie. Whether it be the meh Flower film that came out a bit ago or that cliched yet sort of fun Netflix rom com Set It Up, she always seems like she wants to be there and always brings her A game. I’ve been hoping that a really good and better than mediocre movie showcasing her talents would come along one day and Buffaloed…is it but just barely. Got in there at literally the last minute. Not to say that Buffaloed is only okay, no it’s really good it just needed to be a little bit longer to showcase the movies subject matter a little bit deeper. Speaking of subject matter, per IMDB, it’s log line summary for Buffaloed is as follows: “Set in the underworld of debt-collecting and follows the homegrown hustler Peg Dahl, who will do anything to escape Buffalo, NY.” Obviously Zoey Deutch plays Peg Dahl and her amazingly tense fun and bonkers performance makes Buffaloed better than it has any right to be.

The movie’s conclusion is a little ham-fisted in that what all preceded it was a little one sided, and I wish it would’ve gone into some of the fictional lives/characters who were in debt that this fictional agency was calling to get money from. Instead those lives that the movie could’ve delved into, maybe make the film 10 to 15 minutes longer and tighter, are relegated to a few lines of dialogue. When the end-end of the movie happens, it didn’t quite feel earned altogether, even if it was earned for Deutch’s character arc. And Zoey Deutch isn’t the only great performance in this. Come for her, but stay for both her and Jai Courtney, who kind of got shafted several years ago career wise when he tried his hand into the franchise fizzled reboot/sequels such as the ‘meh’ A Good Day To Die Hard and the awful…abysmal Terminator Genisys. He showed a spark as Captain Boomerang in Suicide Squad, especially with how little his character is actually in that movie, but the spark is a full on flame here. His greasy, scheme wise asshole debt collector character almost steals scenes out from under Ms. Deutch. But only almost. She’s the true star of this movie and the main reason I’m recommending this film to you. Jai second, comedy third, story fourth. And the film has a nice and short run time of only an hour and 34 minutes, which you can’t really beat that nowadays, everything else being so epic and all. But like I said, another 10 minutes could’ve made the film tighter even if it made it a little longer. So if you have Hulu or are willing to shell out a couple of bucks for a rental if this whole thing sounds intriguing, I recommend giving this film a go. If you are looking at a deep dive into the inner workings of a debt collection agency, this film will give you a few pointers but ultimately it will be up to you to do more research.