If you’re a fan of the most insane over-the-top, completely plausible, uncomfortable comedies of all time, then Zoe Pepper is a name to look out for and her newest feature, Birthright, is an absolute must-see. While the film is not cringe comedy, it’s solely focused on the trials, tribulations, and angst that comes with relationships that exist between middle-aged children and their parents and creates one of the darkest, slyest, and gut-wrenchingly hilarious comedies of the year. Truly nothing can prepare audiences for what they experience during Birthright, but the end result is sore cheeks and ribs from laughing and smiling at the brilliant absurdity that unfolds in Pepper’s second written and directed feature.
L-R: Maria Angelico as Jasmine and Travis Jeffery as Corey in BIRTHRIGHT. Photo courtesy of Tribeca Film Festival 2025.
Birthright focuses on Cory and Jasmine (Travis Jeffery and Maria Angelico, respectively) with Cory’s parents during a visit which seems unwelcomed. Cory and Jasmine arrive and the tension can already be absolutely cut with a knife as Lyn and Richard (Linda Cropper and Michael Hurst, respectively) ignore them at the door, causing Cory to take the spare key and let himself and Jasmine in, and are then met with his parents staring daggers at them once inside. While the tension slowly fades, it still lingers in the background before coming to an absolute head and boiling over when Cory casually asks his parents if his incredibly pregnant wife and he could stay for a few days as their place is being fumigated for cockroaches before they move out and move into their new house. Absolutely appalled by the idea, Richard and Lyn reluctantly agree, but it becomes a comedy of errors of sort with some of the most uncomfortable situations anyone can witness unfold.
Travis Jeffrey as Cory in BIRTHRIGHT. Photo courtesy of Tribeca Film Festival 2025.
If everything ended here with some awkwardness and terrible situations unfolding, Birthright would be a flash in the pan. However, it continuously keeps getting increasingly insane, uncomfortable, and, on occasion, dangerous. Without revealing specific plot points, not everything is as it seems and the information presented by Cory to Lyn and Richard may not be entirely factual. Things change and tensions brew creating a world of unease and tension that takes the audience into the darkest realms. The only downside to Zoe Pepper’s feature here is that though it pulls the trigger, it just grazes the ear for the brutality and doesn’t go in for the full kill shot. It’s still incredibly dark and twisted, but there is a lingering amount of humanity that’s presented that would have been better left elsewhere to create a darker world that fits the rest of the tone of the hilarious comedy.
L-R: Maria Angelico as Jasmine, Travis Jeffery as Corey, Linda Cropper as Lyn, and Michael Hurst as Richard in BIRTHRIGHT. Photo courtesy of Tribeca Film Festival 2025.
For a dark comedy such as Birthright, everyone has to be on board, and thankfully Zoe Pepper managed to cultivate a fantastic cast and bring out their best to create this deranged lunacy which feels like a bad trip in all the best ways possible — it’s so absurdly wonderfully insane. The cast is what makes Birthright work tenfold. Travis Jeffrey (Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes) gives Cory an explosive personality which shifts between wanting things to be right in his eyes at any cost and keeping his wife safe; he’s a lit firecracker throughout. Maria Angelico’s (Lost & Found) performance of Jasmine is brilliant, disturbed, and demented, on top of her character dealing with everything while being eight and a half months pregnant. But the true highlight of the film comes from the most unhinged, maniacal performance from Michael Hurst (Hercules). There are moments of just sheer and utter brilliance here and he brings this to an absolute halt with his scene-stealing moments as Richard, leaving the audience breathless from laughter and in complete and utter shock. Linda Cropper (Linda Cropper) as Lyn is also fantastic in her determination to keep her husband’s sanity and keep their humble abode intact as they’ve been empty nesters for some time. Birthright has a double meaning that isn’t explicitly stated, but Pepper certainly plays into the psychosis of the darkest parts of the human brain with this title.
Screening during Tribeca Film Festival 2025.
For more information, head to the official Tribeca Film Festival Birthright webpage.
Final Score: 4 out of 5.
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Categories: Films To Watch, In Theaters, Recommendation, Reviews
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