Kajillionaire

The family of grifters at the center of Kajillionaire mostly just wants to be normal. The film itself certainly does not.

Beneath the surface quirks, this sharply observed portrait of a family of con artists living on the socioeconomic margins from director Miranda July (Me and You and Everyone We Know) uses strong performances to keep the material emotionally grounded.

The film is set mostly on the streets of contemporary Los Angeles, where Robert (Richard Jenkins) and Theresa (Debra Winger) live in rented-out office space adjacent to a bubble factory with their awkwardly introverted adult daughter named Old Dolio (Evan Rachel Wood). Each day, their schedule includes a coordinated cleanup of residue from the neighbors.

They become jittery every time there’s a tremor, but that’s nothing compared to the upheaval shaking up their family dynamic. Lacking gainful employment, the family of misanthropes spends each day engaging in a handful of coordinated swindles just to get by.

One such scam involves flying to New York and back, where they meet Melanie (Gina Rodriguez), who becomes intrigued when she discovers what’s going on. Not only does she earn Robert’s trust, but she wants to join the team for the next heist, at the risk of a power struggle for acceptance with Old Dolio.

It would be easy to dismiss their actions as lacking a moral compass, yet the film seems to hypothesize the source of their constant neuroses and erratic behavior as perhaps a mix of mental instability and desperation. As they rail against capitalism and commercialism, we realize they are not living this life by choice, but by necessity.

July’s screenplay generates big laughs without mocking its characters, and by prompting moviegoer pity to evolve into sympathy, especially for Old Dolio, who is being victimized simply because she’s known no other way.

The film requires a delicacy in tone that sometimes eludes its reach, as if it’s being weird arbitrarily. However, it smartly keeps its focus on the characters rather than bogging down in the mechanics of their schemes.

Oddities like Kajillionaire aren’t destined to make kajillions at the box office, although for those on the same eccentric wavelength, it’s its lighthearted mix of heart and humanity is consistently amusing.

Rated R, 106 minutes.