B.J. Novak the actor stars as Ben Manalowitz, a character who doesn't want to be a writer so much as he wants to be a voice. For his first feature as writer-director, Novak is more interested in arming his characters with clever cocktail party repartee than he is in shaping a satire. Ben receives a call in the middle of the night, asking that he attend the funeral of Abilene (Analeigh Tipton), an ex-girlfriend whose name he had to Google — that’s how close they were. Why not a simple “I’m sorry for your loss, but no” for a reply? Because the victim’s doofus brother Ty (Boyd Holbrook) hints that it was murder by O.D., the kind of story needed to help Ben make the leap from writer to celebrity podcaster. Drop a guy who writes for The New Yorker (read: Jewish intellectual) in East Bumfuck, Texas to deliver a eulogy for someone he barely knew? How can you miss with a premise like this? Start with the death of a young woman quickly becoming of secondary importance, and follow it up with a play-it-safe approach, tamping down the satire in favor of hammering home a one-joke premise. With Ashton Kutcher making a fine substitute for Sam Elliott as the soft-spoken, cowboy-hatted voice of reason. (2022) — Scott Marks