The Beta Test
Co - head by Jim Cummings and PJ McCabe ( who plays a modest part in the film),The Beta Testcrafts a news report that , on the face of it , is about this whodunit necessitate anon. sex and how the old age of internet connectivity is setting us up for massive fall , especially for extremely ikon - conscious citizenry . Cummings’The Beta Testhas some choice run-in for Hollywood agentive role and a rather frank contempt for toxic masculinity and virile fragility .
The Beta Testfollows Jordan ( Cummings ) , a Hollywood agent who is less than two months out from getting married . One day , he receive an invitation in a purplish gasbag for anonymous sex with a stranger . Someone with rationality and an understanding of how shady this situation is would have immediately thrown out the card or turn over it over to the police . Jordan is not that soul , however , and as the torturing first step scene informs the audience , many have fall dupe to the horrible melodic theme . Jordan , who on the face of it has everything a man can want or involve , decides to go for it . What follows is the absolute implosion of a serviceman who is ineffective to get in hint with his feeling and is smother by toxic maleness ; the most horrifying thing of all is he ’s a world - class jerk .
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Despite some fundamental moments that speak to the exit of social media and how people ’s private sprightliness are being commodified and box to sell anything from designer shoes , a new home , or even unexpected sexual coming upon , these scenery are fleeting at good . They do n’t jam well-nigh as much of a poke as require , even if it ’s the B plot . The independent crux of the matter ofThe Beta Testis ultimately about virile fragility and toxic masculinity . In a scene where Jordan ’s genial State Department strain a crescendo , he remarks on how the world is becoming a ugly piazza , and that it is a populace he wo n’t have any control of . Intentionally or not the film maker center an individual who is beyond sympathy , but is completely understandable . The chess opening of the film is a jarring apposition of how Jordan approach the situation and his motive compared to a charwoman who receives the same invitation . An entirely different view could be narrate from her point of view which shake off light on what leads a woman to unfaithfulness .
Jordan is not an unfamiliar someone . He is someone who has been told explicitly by a patriarchal guild that he needs to be a man that is always in control . When Jordan receives this enticing invitation to have sex with a stark stranger , he relinquish control of his life . Jordan may not be able to sound out it , but this notion of the alpha male versus the beta male person is all too familiar when adult female are regularly forced to reckon with a society that only sees them as physical object of desire and who are only deserving pursuing for sex . Outside of sex , human are stand for to be dominant force in all space they occupy and anything that gainsay that should be met with aggression . Jordan is both a victim and an eager participant in this vicious brain . WhileThe Beta Testlacks subtlety and is not as penetrating as it fix out to be , it does wield to accurately exhibit a clear picture of life ’s greatest horror villain : a toxic valet .
As someone who has never insure Jim Cummings in anything , and ca n’t even recall fancy him inHalloween Kills , he is pretty darn charming . The histrion has an exciting range when playing a character who is both comic and decidedly terrify at the same time . From his tawdry bluster to his aggressive macho Isle of Man act to his ineptness , Cummings prove to be an actor who is capable of just about anything . The Beta Testis a very impressive showcase for him as an actor , but also as a creative military force — he is the film ’s writer , director , and editor program .
The film tonally and thematically lines up with Jordan ’s tacky Hollywood vibration , it ’s as if McCabe and Cummings lean into the cheesiness to well illustrate Jordan ’s world and presumptively the nature of the film diligence McCabe and Cummings are currently forced to reckon with as talent . This moving picture has no sympathy for Hollywood , specifically those who miss the natural endowment or ambitiousness to actually be artist . anchor by a charismatic performance from Cummings , The Beta Testis at time silly , but it is a thoroughly entertaining and insightful satire . Cummings and McCabe do n’t quite equilibrize the over-embellished gasbag mystery with the part field of study of a self - involved human beings , and the termination take a sharp left hand towards confusedness , but it is certainly something worth determine .
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The Beta Testreleases inselect field of operations , on digital platforms and VOD on November 5 , 2021 . It is 91 minutes long and is unrated .
