Satire of any sort is a difficult storytelling genre to nail. Go too far in one direction, people dismiss the ideas as far-fetched and implausible (ex. the revelation of Sorry to Bother You (2018)); go too far in the other, the intended cultural or social incision doesn’t break the skin (ex. Wrong Reasons (2023)). Satire isn’t limited to socio-economic, cultural, or even history topics as one of the most popular satirical films takes aim at the rise of airplane-related disaster films while working in jabs at various tropes used in those cinematic tales. I am serious (and don’t call me “Shirley”). Entering the satirical space is filmmaker Tiffany Kim Stevens with her feature directorial debut Trigger Happy, written by Daniel Moya (18 1/2) based on a story developed by Stevens and Moya. Their film imagines an alternate reality in which a 1950s aesthetic permeates the narrative world, making cell phones and cultural integration seem anachronistic by comparison to the real world, yet it seethes with anger, resentment, and perpetual disquiet as the rules of existence are guided not by freedom of choice but control disguised as freedom. It’s dark and silly, light and weighted, but, more than anything, when it all comes together, the blood that flows possesses an inevitability that makes one wonder why they laughed at all.
L-R: Elsha Kim as Annie Decker and Tyler Poelle as George Decker in TRIGGER HAPPY. Photo courtesy of West 36 Productions.
Husband and wife George and Annie (Tyler Poelle and Elsha Kim, respectively) live a quiet life in the suburbs, but, while they have a roof over their heads and plenty of tea to drink, the distribution of labor is imbalanced and resentments are building. Right now, Annie is preparing for an audition to be a pitch person, hoping to leave her life in insurance behind, while George toils away at his day job as a waiter, his debts piling up day after day. Each of them hopes for something better to come along and, inspired by a true crime report, George decides that the best way to make things change for him is for Annie to go away — permanently.
Bella Johnson as BB Gun Kid in TRIGGER HAPPY. Photo courtesy of West 36 Productions.
Trigger Happy first premiered during Cinequest 2024 and is slated for a wider release January 2025 and, yet, one can’t help but find elements of Moya’s script to be prophetic. Now, at EoM, we strive to keep things as spoiler-free as possible in initial-release reviews, but we’re not above providing a few examples from a film without giving away the whole, so when I tell you that one of the suggested aspects of this alt-world is a dictatorship in which 2A wingnuts gain control of the country’s infrastructure and make it so that in order to gain access to things like health insurance, buy a car, or other items that we, currently, take for granted, it all feels a little close to home now as the dumbest among us are about to move into the White House in 2025. For a point of reference, Elon Musk as co-chair of the newly-devised Department of Governmental Efficiency (D.O.G.E.), which anyone who’s been following Musk’s work in tech is aware that he would prefer that the American dollar be replaced by bitcoin and guess which one he supports: Dogecoin. I’m sure there’s no conflict of interest there (yes, this is sarcastic), but I’m more sure that no one in the new administration will see it as an ethical breach because MAGA is the party of Imma Get Mine® regardless of how many times it hurts the country as a whole. What makes one think that there’s an authoritative/dictatorial form of governance throughout Trigger isn’t just higher significance of gun ownership (nothing wrong with owning a weapon or knowing how to use it —this reviewer doesn’t own, but knows how to use), but the person we learn all this from is a woman who stands in uniform upon a box on a street corner speaking into a microphone (Michele Selene Ang) who exposition-dumps each time George walks by, giving him pointed stares and intimidating body language to ensure he knows that her words are aimed at him. Her uniform is militaristic and all black except for a badge of red. We don’t know the country of origin this tale occurs in nor in which time period, but the presumption due to speaking English is the United States; therefore, with this alternate reality a question forms regarding what it is that Stevens and Moya are saying about the relationship between gun ownership and so-called human rights and freedoms? The more subtle elements that the narrative leaves to audience inference (like the woman in uniform) allow space for more obvious overt jokes, like a twist on a popular HBCU that Tre Hall’s Kent Korner references constantly, without bringing down the whole with the more obvious joke laying groundwork for a deeper view of what kind of world places so much pressure on education without a place for the graduates to thrive. A hard satirical truth, indeed. As someone who spent time in the DC-Maryland-Virginia area (DMV) for grad school, one wonders just what it implies about the wider HBCU school system in this world and I truly shudder at the thought.
Matt Lowe as Mikey Breyer in TRIGGER HAPPY. Photo courtesy of West 36 Productions.
Prior to directing Trigger Happy, Stevens helmed several shorts and music videos, a trajectory directors like McG (Charlie’s Angels), David Fincher (The Killer), Spike Jonze (Her), and many others have followed. That prior work is on display here, where Stevens’s vision comes through more often in the smaller details than in the bigger picture. This isn’t to say that there’s something missing or less affecting in the larger comedic moments that involve bodies in varying states of vulnerability, but when she frames Poelle in profile early in the film, one can feel the melancholy coming off of him — the costume design, makeup, and positioning of the camera coming together with Poelle’s own physicality to observe as close to a real-life look of Mr. Incredible (voiced by Craig T. Nelson in The Incredibles series). Those films were also set in a nebulous period with 1950s styling, Mr. Incredible a figure meant to embody a specific type of masculinity and Poelle, through Stevens’s direction, is that type made flesh, just more pathetic and unable, possibly unwilling, to do the work to make things better. Her direction, along with Seannie Bryan’s (I Was Wrong) cinematography, captures the energy of the era the film evokes: the cleanliness, the precision, and simplicity of social conventions that existed on the outside while something rotten festered underneath.
Elsha Kim as Annie Decker in TRIGGER HAPPY. Photo courtesy of West 36 Productions.
If there’s one major sticking point, it’s that Trigger Happy calls its closing in the opening sequence, thereby removing any speculation or anticipation. We know enough about how the film ends that Moya’s narrative breadcrumbs may as well be neon signs. On the one hand, a lack of subtlety is necessary when so much of the film is, itself, purposefully cruel; however, on the other, it calls its shot, making any sense of surprise absent. Perhaps the intent is for it to be akin to a shroud, a secret known by the audience but not by the characters, thereby inserting a sense of horrific inevitability amid the ridiculousness. In this way, the opening makes all that follows feel like a classic tragedy in which fate has predetermined all that occurs, adding some nihilism to go along with the cruelty of this world. The problem with this, appropriate as it may be, is that doing so ends up slightly justifying George’s own desire for violence born out of a feeling of helplessness due to his growing awareness of perpetual disquiet. People like George deserve what comes to them, but what of those who get caught in the wake of it? What do they deserve? On that note, at least Moya and Stevens ensure that there’s really only one innocent character in the whole of the film, brought to life by the very compelling Tre Hall (S#!%house), and it is, of course, the only central Black character in the film. Apropos, indeed.
L: Tyler Poelle as George Decker in TRIGGER HAPPY. Photo courtesy of West 36 Productions.
From a certain perspective, there’s a throughline of cruelty from nearly every character (save one). Either it’s their inability to speak their intentions and needs clearly, their inability to manage themselves as an individual, or to relieve themselves of the shackles placed upon them by societal expectations, all of which create a rolling boil that threatens to erupt and burn any who are near it. There’s even a moment in which a song of perennial celebration evolves into something nasty upon the celebrant and said character responds with a soft, sad, and yet thankful appreciation. What kind of world have Steven and Moya asked audiences to explore? If cruelty is the point than the only way out is a specific violent revolution — internal or external. One can only hope that the satirical elements of Trigger Happy remain in that darkly comedic realm and don’t cross over into reality.
Screened during Cinequest and Newport Beach Film Festival 2024.
Available on VOD and digital January 14th 2025.
For more information, head to the official West 36 Productions Trigger Happy webpage.
Final Score: 3.5 out of 5.
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