There are some movies that deal with messy subjects, but should be viewed nonetheless.  By the time I am finished with this review of Buffaloed (2019), you will decide whether this is a true statement.  As a Catholic film reviewer, I tend to prefer my cinematic fare to be morally uncomplicated.  Religion can be a complex concept, but God wants some basic things from us that, as I wish more people would realize, are not that difficult to follow.  Put simply, He desires us to love Him above all things, and our neighbors as ourselves.  That is a summary of Matthew 22:36-40 when Jesus is asked which is the greatest commandment.  If we could abide by His answer to that question, the world would be a better place. That people do not is the main theme behind today’s selection.

One could surmise that this is not what is happening to Peg Dahl (Zoey Deutch), who we meet as she is in the process of being Buffaloed.  Not only does that mean to be bullied and intimidated, but it also forms the root of where these events take place, Buffalo, New York.  In order to find out why she is yelling at a building about her money and firing a gun in the air, we go back to when she was a little girl (Kate Moyer).  In the wake of her father passing, her hairstylist mother, Kathy Dahl (Judy Greer), is having trouble making money to support the family.  Peg insists that this would not be a problem if dad was alive, so she makes it her mission to make as much money as possible.  The path she initially has in mind for this is to get into an Ivy League college, obtain the best education, and make her way into a high paying career. To do so takes funds that her family does not possess.  To obtain the necessary cash, she conceives of many schemes, including selling cigarettes out of her trunk when she was in high school.  Despite her shady business practices, she is a bright girl and is accepted into the university of her dreams.  Yet, as the reality of her family’s financial situation sets in, she believes that she will not be able to pay the tuition.  Because nobody tells her that institutions like Harvard do not turn away students for financial reasons, she turns to making money however she can, citing people like Bill Gates as her inspiration since they did not go to college.  Because the citizens of Buffalo love their Bills of the National Football League (NFL), they seem a likely target for a scam.  Thus, she begins selling counterfeit tickets to revelers on the way into games.  Eventually, the police catch up with her and she is sentenced to forty months in prison.  Her brother, J. J. Dahl (Noah Reid), and Kathy are excited when she gets out, but she is clueless as to how somebody with a record like hers is going to make a living.  At first, J. J. gives her work as a janitor at his bar, though that quickly wears thin.  It is while talking with Kathy in the Dahl’s in-home salon that Peg gets her next questionable idea.  Because of continuing problems with debt, collections calls are a regular occurrence in the Dahl household.  Being the smooth talker she is, Peg answers one of these calls and gets Sal (Brian Sacca), who unwittingly shares enough of the secrets of the trade to get this predator interested.  Later, she shows up at the warehouse that doubles as an “office” in order to speak to Sal’s boss, who goes by “Wizz” (Jai Courtney).  Wizz obtains the debts owed by thousands of Americans, sold by banks and other businesses to suspect collections agencies like those run by Wizz.  They are willing to make these transactions because the legitimate enterprise gets some recompense for what they are owed, and the agencies can go after the individuals that owe for extortionary amounts.  If this sounds illegal, I do not blame you, and so does Graham Feany (Jermaine Fowler), the district attorney (DA) who originally prosecuted Peg on the counterfeiting charges.  Graham also frequents J.J.’s bar and overhears Peg talking about how she is getting into this racket, cautioning against doing so.  To Peg, the opportunity is too great to pass up, particularly when Wizz agrees to clear the money she owes from her previous legal troubles if she can become his top earner in a month.  To do so, she uses some predatory practices, including taking advantage of the elderly.  However, when she does not get what she believes is fair for that deal, she decides to quit and start her own agency.  The relationship that had been developing between Graham and Peg is put on hold because of this move, though she promises to do everything legitimately.  To do so, she hires some of the women she served time with, as well as anyone she thinks has a knack for hustling people out of their hard-earned dollars.  Wizz does not take this sudden competition lightly.  The feud that comes about between them starts off petty, but turns ugly when, for example, he uses the system to take over ownership of J. J.’s bar.  One way Peg retaliates is by using her ties with Graham to get the police to raid Wizz’s warehouse.  Wizz responds in kind, but this time the authorities are sent to the Dahl residence.  Including the unlicensed salon Kathy operates, the cops find large amounts of cash.  It is at this point that Peg runs across town to shoot near Wizz’s operation, an incident that turns into a physical altercation before she is taken into custody.  Once out, she seems ready to cooperate with Graham’s investigation, though she has something bigger in mind.  Instead, she gets all the area’s collector’s together in one room to get them on tape admitting to all their shady practices while law enforcement seizes all their documents.  Once this is accomplished, she sneaks into Graham’s office and burns all the debt documents, effectively erasing the money owed by thousands of people.  She has to spend more time in jail for doing so, but she comes out of the process with a great deal of respect.

Perhaps her family and friends lose some of their newfound respect for Peg at the end of Buffaloed when she tells them that she is going to start a hedge fund with the money they raised for her upon her release.  The suggestion is made that such an enterprise is another kind of hustle.  I am ignorant of such matters, so I cannot speak to the veracity of such a claim.  It also is a slightly incongruent tone based on the purgative nature of the film’s last fifteen minutes.  I use the word “purgative,” as in Purgatory, or the place we go to purify our souls before Heaven, for its Christian connotation.  There is not much to work with here otherwise, though that should not be surprising given the subject matter.  Yet, I see a parallel to such a concept when, while Peg is burning the debt documents, the fire alarm comes on and the sprinkler system douses her and the fire.  Purgatory is meant to make us clean for eternity with God, just like the waters of Baptism take away the stain of original sin.  At the same time, you may be wondering why such a person would deserve to have her sins taken away.  To that I would remind you that everyone deserves a second chance, or third or fourth chances as they joke at the end of the movie.  God gives as many opportunities as we need to come to know Him.  He is doing this for you right now as I type.  Our family and friends are called to emulate this ideal.  While it can look different for everyone, it takes a contrite heart on our part to achieve it.  That is the lesson Peg learns.  For much of the film, she is concerned solely about getting rich and will use anyone in order to achieve that goal.  She also places the burden for doing so entirely on herself.  As her world is falling apart with the cops taking J. J. and Kathy into custody, she is frantically trying to reassure them that she can fix this situation.  Yet, when they get to the station, Kathy tells Peg there is no easy solution like simply saying she is sorry.  Instead, it takes a grandiose plan of getting all the crooked collectors in one room, destroying hard working peoples’ debt, and then sincerely apologizing, for everyone to take her back at the end.  It takes a community, in other words, which can be an image of God’s love for you.

At the same time, it is hard to love Buffaloed.  I cannot say that Peg is a heroine, though she does land in the right place.  Watching this movie is a little like seeing a car accident.  You know things would have been better had people made better decisions.  At the same time, it works as a cautionary tale, and that is why I would recommend it.