B.J. Novak is out to solve a murder and record a podcast in this very Texas trailer for Vengeance

B.J. Novak is no longer the kid from The Office who couldn’t microwave a cheesy pita… actually, he’s still basically the same kid from The Office who couldn’t microwave a cheese pita in every other role, but now he’s writing and starring in Vengeance, a dark comedy film that also happens to be his feature directorial debut.

The premise has some layers, so let’s walk through it: Novak plays a prototypical New York City guy with a general stuck-up attitude about everyone who isn’t a prototypical New York City guy. When he finds out that a girl he “hooked up with a few times” has died from an apparent opioid overdose, he heads to her hometown in Texas to turn her death into a podcast. But it turns out that her family thought they were way more than just occasional sex partners, and B.J. Novak gets roped into a plot to avenge her death… which may have actually been a murder!

Also Ashton Kutcher is there as some big-shot Texas guy! And Issa Rae is earning what appears to be an extremely easy COVID-safe paycheck! (No judgement here, good for her!) The whole thing is extremely Texas, with cowboy hats and a joke about cowboy boots and an appearance from a Whataburger, and most of the comedy is classic fish-out-of-water stuff (Dove Cameron’s character doesn’t even know you can put stuff in coffee!).

Vengeance stars Novak, Kutcher, Cameron, Rae, Boyd Holbrook, and J. Smith-Cameron. It is also one of maybe three non-horror films released by Blumhouse in the last three years, which is either an interesting trivia fact or an accidental spoiler for some kind of wild twist. It doesn’t seem like B.J. Novak’s character is a ghost or a Michael Myers, but it’s hard to say with these Blumhouse movies. Anyway, it will be available in theaters on July 29.