Gina Rodriguez and Evan Rachel Wood in ‘Kajillionaire’: What Their New Movie Is About
Audiences had to say goodbye to Gina Rodriguez when Jane the Virgin left television. They’re also waiting a long time to see Evan Rachel Wood again on Westworld Season 3. Their movie together will tide fans over who’ve been missing them individually, and Kajillionaire is the team up movie you never knew you needed.
Kajillionaire is a Miranda July film, which means quirky without being outside reality. If you’ve seen The Future or Me and You and Everyone You Know, you can look forward to Rodriguez, Wood and other great actors joining July’s world in a new story.
How Gina Rodriguez meets Evan Rachel Wood in ‘Kajillionaire’
Old Dolio (Wood) lives with her parents Robert (Richard Jenkins) and Theresa (Debra Winger). They run scams to get by like stealing mail or winning contests and trading ill gotten goods for services. They live next to a laundromat that regularly leaks bubbles they have to transfer via buckets, and they’re still behind on rent.
When the trio runs a scam for travel insurance, they meet Melanie (Rodriguez) on the plane. They also steal leftover airplane snacks because that’s a free meal. Melanie introduces them to her elderly clients from whom they steal checks to commit fraud. They don’t want to be kajillionaires. Robert actually keeps the hustle small to float under the radar.
Evan Rachel Wood and Gina Rodriguez become dirty rotten scoundrels
The small time cons are engaging and infuriating. It’s fun to see how Old Dolio stays out of view and scopes out the post office. They put on a funny show when they fleece the old people. These are the sort of people you would avoid in real life though, and Kajillinoaire never forgets why.
They are the deadbeat friends who are always asking to borrow money, only it’s worse because they’re asking people to settle for less than cash payment. Robert and Theresa are exhausting because it seems like it would be easier to just get a minimum wage job than hustle like this. Even their most basic scams are precarious. For example, as soon as the Post Office installs cameras, that revenue stream is out.
‘Kajillionaire’: A tale of female friendship
Melanie and Old Dolio have a sweet relationship. Rodriguez is so expressive, she livens up this mundane scam that’s by now rote to the original trio. Wood holds everything back. She mumbles and hides behind her long hair. Melanie celebrates Old Dolio, and that’s hard for her to understand.
Old Dolio has settled for a transactional relationship with her parents because that’s all she’s known. You’ll become really invested in Old Dolio’s need for parental love. It’s heartbreaking because Robert and Theresa are users. They’re not really capable of being the parents she deserves.
Melanie is vulnerable too and Old Dolio takes responsibility when she goes too far, mistaking Melanie’s strong exterior for invulnerability. Interestingly, Jenkins and Winger don’t play their characters as sinister, because they probably wouldn’t see themselves that way.
Miranda July created memorable characters with which the actors run. Since this is July’s first feature film in which she doesn’t star, one wonders which character might represent her. However, her voice always comes through all the characters in her films and Kajillionaire is no different.
