Like the Church potluck to which Amziah King introduces his one-time foster daughter Kateri, The Rivals of Amziah King is a gleeful mashup of genres and tones blending bluegrass music, comedy, revenge, and heist-thriller elements into a tasty homestyle buffet full of eccentric characters and thick Southern accents. It’s a strong follow-up to the promise Andrew Patterson displayed in his resourceful debut feature The Vast of Night––even when this mash-up seems a little uneven and indulgent, with a heavy use of formal techniques, from slow-motion to ironic music.
In large part this film’s success stems from its leads: Matthew McConaughey as King, channeling the look and energy of Bruce Springsteen’s Born in the U.S.A. era, and Angelina LookingGlass as Kateri. They reconnect and King takes her under his wing, providing lessons about his beekeeping profession that double as the kind of life advice he never gave her. King is a generous man quick to share his product with the community, hire those with criminal backgrounds, and lend his expertise to the police when they ask him to quickly analyze a mystery batch of 20 barrels of stolen honey they’ve confiscated.
Interrupting him in the middle of a spirited music number in the parking lot of a roadside burger stand, King is drafted into helping the local police (Bruce Davis and Rob Morgan) with problem-solving that gets more complicated by a group of ex-cons. It’s an opening sequence that embraces Coen-esque dark comedy when a burnout (Tony Revolori) gets too close to a rendering machine and scalps himself.
Not quite Fargo with banjos––or mandolins––The Rivals of Amziah King moves at a breakneck pace with a tone of magical realism, especially as Kateri enters the picture. She was moved from their family shortly after King’s wife died. Now a broken man living deep in the heart of rural Oklahoma, he’s pouring his resources into life’s work and a cutthroat industry. After King’s bees are stolen and a tragic accident occurs, the story shifts to Kateri stepping up and avenging in a second half that doesn’t quite work so well as its predecessor. While getting bogged down in plot, the latter stretch still retains a certain joy and quirk, yet evolves into something far less charming as King, in an unexpected way, guides his stepdaughter with his words of wisdom.
The film’s tone can’t effectively sustain as the narrative shifts gears and expands its universe to introduce villains (including the excellent Kurt Russell) and add a plot-line wherein Kateri pretends to work for the state agriculture commission to get to the bottom of who was trying to drive King out of business. At that point the film turns into a quirky revenge thriller about a street-smart girl who’d been mentored by a backwoods philosopher. It’s a big swing that doesn’t connect, but the gentle pleasures and wit of the first half make Patterson’s second feature worth seeking out.
The Rivals of Amziah King premiered at SXSW 2025.