The Beta Test

Name: The Beta Test
Genre: Thriller, Horror
Released: November 5, 2021
Duration: 94 min
Rating: 72
Cast: Christian Hillborg, Jacqueline Doke, Jessie Barr, Jim Cummings, Kevin Changaris

2021

METASCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 18 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 9 Ratings

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6.9

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6.9	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 9 Ratings

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The Beta Test

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Movie Details & Credits

IFC Films | Release Date: November 5, 2021 | NR

Starring: Christian Hillborg, Jacqueline Doke, Jessie Barr, Jim Cummings, Kevin Changaris, Malin Barr, Olivia Grace Applegate, PJ McCabe, Virginia Newcomb, Wilky Lau

Summary: A married Hollywood agent receives a mysterious letter for an anonymous sexual encounter and becomes ensnared in a sinister world of lying, murder, and infidelity.

Director: Jim Cummings and PJ McCabe

Genre(s): Thriller, Horror

Rating: NR

Runtime: 94 min

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Critic Reviews

The Playlist Rodrigo Perez

Jun 13, 2021

Overall, Cummings and McCabe’s film touches a raw nerve with sharp, funny, awkwardly prickly provocation. Read full review

Owen Gleiberman

Mar 22, 2021

The movie, at its best, holds you in its grip. Read full review

Carlos Aguilar

Nov 4, 2021

Ghastly humor coated in serrated-edged commentary on corrosive power creeps in through Jordan’s yearnings for a world before online accountability. Read full review

Katie Rife

Nov 4, 2021

Cummings and McCabe zero in on an angle they do understand—the death scream of the untouchably powerful man—and can make fun of with precision. Read full review

John DeFore

Oct 19, 2021

Cummings works the same muscles that attracted attention in the festival darling Thunder Road and its follow-up, The Wolf of Snow Hollow: Exploring the varieties of volatile awkwardness and desperation, he plays a well-known type (the showbiz ladder-climber who’s nothing but a smile) while making the character unlike any we’ve seen. Read full review

Movie Nation Roger Moore

Nov 3, 2021

The Beta Test is a wired, wound-up and instantly-hip/instantly-dated Hollywood riff on relationships — romantic, business and otherwise. Read full review

The Film Stage Michael Frank

Jun 18, 2021

If one can get past the exaggerated nature of The Beta Test, there’s much to glean from its mixture of laughs and critiques. Come for the mystery, stay for the study of society by two white guys playing absolute assholes. Even if that study reaches farther than it can grasp. Read full review

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User Reviews

JED1229

Jan 1, 2022

Huge fan of what Cummings and McCabe have made here. A great film that gives a beautiful name to indie filmmaking.

0 of 1 users found this helpful01

jamess

Feb 15, 2022

Jim Cummings is an interesting actor/writer/director. I've only seen his previous film, The Wolf Of Snow Hollow, thinking it was a take on the werewolf genre, but realizing he was examining the breakdown of his sheriff character more than genre conventions. Cummings has the blandJim Cummings is an interesting actor/writer/director. I've only seen his previous film, The Wolf Of Snow Hollow, thinking it was a take on the werewolf genre, but realizing he was examining the breakdown of his sheriff character more than genre conventions. Cummings has the bland handsomeness of a catalog model, with a smile that is just an inch away from a grimace or grinning skull. He portrays a Hollywood agent who receives an invitation for a sexual rendezvous from an anonymous source. Despite an upcoming wedding to a loving fiance (and more likely because of it), he meets up for the anonymous fling (blindfolds are used). Afterwards, he becomes obsessed with the meeting and who set it up. I love how Cummings will stay on an actor (generally himself) as they talk and get themselves deeper and deeper with every word and physical expression. His character is the embodiment of toxic masculinity and privilege, always on the verge of meltdown. An interesting premise, well acted.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

tonto

Jan 18, 2022

The Beta Test is a psychological thriller of sorts, with the premise of the movie being that a Hollywood agent gets an anonymous note from some alleged woman who wants a casual sexual encounter in a hotel room. He partakes in this and it induces anguish and anxiety. He attempts to uncoverThe Beta Test is a psychological thriller of sorts, with the premise of the movie being that a Hollywood agent gets an anonymous note from some alleged woman who wants a casual sexual encounter in a hotel room. He partakes in this and it induces anguish and anxiety. He attempts to uncover who was sending the letters and why and tries to hide the affair from his fiance. The movie is a comedy of manners of sorts similar to American Psycho in that the main character is focused on his appearance and status and possesses an artificial, yuppy-like demeanor. It's also kind of an odd movie as it collapses on its own weight of its premise as it can't adequately explain why the notes were sent out. It turns out they were dispersed by some internet geek in a basement who used an algorithm collecting people's data on social media to instigate the encounter. It made very little sense. It was also never explained what the woman's role was in the hook up, if she was an accomplice to the internet geek or if she was just another recipient. These plot holes brought the movie down a peg, but it was an interesting experience.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

JLuis_001

Jan 12, 2022

The Beta Test's subject matter is so exposed that perhaps a few lessons in subtlety wouldn't have gone amiss for its creators.
I say this because while the concept is quite evident, the script never makes it clear what it's trying to satirize.
It certainly shows its patterns, but it allThe Beta Test's subject matter is so exposed that perhaps a few lessons in subtlety wouldn't have gone amiss for its creators.
I say this because while the concept is quite evident, the script never makes it clear what it's trying to satirize.

It certainly shows its patterns, but it all feels sloppy, and lacking in cohesion, especially at the point where it can't balance the satirical tone with the tension and paranoia in which the plot begins to envelop its lead character once he falls down the rabbit hole.

It's not a confusing movie by any stretch of the imagination, but it's incongruous and rather inconsistent.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

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