Opportunity

When watching a story unfold, we often adopt the perspective of the character most central to it. Generally, they have basic decency or some relatable quality, while the antagonistic force is motivated by greed or a general desire to harm. However, sometimes we can be in the thick of a story and say, “Wait a minute, who is actually the jerk here?” Anti-heroes are a mainstay in cinema and a good way to shake up the routine. Rusty Rehl’s debut feature Opportunity provides us with just such a character.

Opportunity revolves around Patrick, a down-on-his-luck thirty-something living out of his van while trying to buy a house. He is “roughing it” somewhat unnecessarily, as he has savings but simply refuses to rent. In order to secure a loan, he agrees to pull off a theft for Jared, a mischievous businessman, by breaking into the home of a well-connected accountant named Tim to do so. With his friend Donnie’s help, he pulls it off. But when Tim discovers his identity, Patrick goes on the run, and a cat-and-mouse game ensues with a group of Mormon gangsters in pursuit.

Patrick’s mindset may be head-scratching to some viewers yet make perfect sense to others. Who would choose to live out of a vehicle on principle when they have the funds to put a roof over their head? Patrick sidesteps the question when Donnie poses it to him early in the film. He seems preoccupied with the down payment on a home but nonchalant about the other costs of home ownership. In addition to being stubborn, Patrick’s obliviousness to the costs of owning a home perfectly illustrates immaturity and naïveté, respectively. The younger we are, the more idealistic we tend to be about our life and career goals, overlooking the forest for the trees. Patrick’s nomadic propensity speaks to an anti-establishment mentality, which makes him forego the most common-sense option that presents the stability he needs at the moment. 

Though not the sharpest tool in the shed, Patrick’s friend Donnie is loyal to the end. Donnie seems far more invested in their friendship than in his not-so-monogamous relationship with his girlfriend Julia, who loathes Patrick. Julia, whom Donnie also financially supports, has dictated to Donnie that she is free to see other people but he is not. This nugget sticks in Patrick’s craw, and leads to arguments between him and Donnie. As in most friendships, each has to point out the other’s blind spots, but they fall on deaf ears more often than not.

Other than Patrick’s and Donnie’s squabbles, Opportunity’s comedic relief stems from its anomalous villains: a group of well-mannered, articulate, Bible-pushing Mormons who have their hands in crypto. They comprise a perfect villain for a crime comedy, as they are not nearly as intimidating as the gangsters we typically see in the media. They are always professionally dressed, never use profanity and speak politely even amidst altercations. By contrast, Patrick consistently name-calls and uses vulgar, hostile language every time he encounters them. This is a characterization frequently used in screwball comedies; our “hero” behaves like a bad guy and our bad guys behave like heroes. Consider Animal House, where the protagonists are troublemakers who destroy property and the “villain” is the dean trying to hold them accountable.

When Patrick and Donnie break into a safe and steal a computer device containing a virtual crypto wallet, the gangsters go after them while also trying not to tarnish their public images. Patrick and Donnie go to their tech-savvy friend Tony, who works in IT for Jared’s accounting firm. Reluctant to get involved, Tony repeatedly denies them entry to his house until they insist and shove their way past him. Again, Patrick and Donnie exhibit off-putting behavior despite being the duo we’re conditioned to root for. Tony figures out the value of what they have stolen before kicking them out of his place. 

The rising action of the film inches toward a violent climax between Patrick, Donnie, Jared and the gangsters, who all at times seem like disorganized stooges. Once the dust has settled, the audience is left wondering who actually was in the right. We can use the adage that “desperation compromises judgement” to explain Patrick’s actions. For Donnie, we can conclude that loyalty can pull us into all kinds of calamities. And as for Tim and the gangsters, we can surmise that they just want their property back. Ultimately, this is how comedy suspends our disbelief. In the same way we watch Vin Diesel drive out of a skyscraper window into a nearby skyscraper window and accept it as plausible, comedies convince us to be on the side of a criminal protagonist who is perpetually mean-spirited, even to his companions. 

In terms of plot, Opportunity may bring to mind the Coen Brothers hit No Country for Old Men, where a hunter steals a large sum of money resulting from a drug deal gone wrong and winds up in the crosshairs of a psychopathic killer. Clearly, Rusty Rehl’s feature takes a far more light-hearted tone, but both present a main character with compromised morals and cat-and-mouse games erupting in violence.