Ned Rifle (2014)

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Completing(?) his Grimm Family Trilogy with Ned Rifle, Hartlley now focuses on Fay and Harry's son who, in the wake of what happened to his mother in the previous film, has found God and determined to kill his father. This may be difficult because of an unbalanced poetry major (Aubrey Plaza) who tags along and has her own designs on Harry Fool. The direction isn't as peculiar in this one, though it's still infected with the same Hartley humor. Ultimately, this is about renouncing one's genetic/family heritage rather than anything truly Oedipal (as Harry accuses Ned of being), and comes down to the last shot. And I appreciate it for that - and for Plaza, of course - but Ned Rifle isn't as good as its predecessors and even feels a little padded at times. I'm happy to sneak back to Fay Grimm to see what she's up to and everything, but some of these sneak-backs to various characters add very little to the overall tapestry. I would also say that unlike the second film, it doesn't really work without seeing the previous instalment. 12 months ago