Movie

How to Make a Killing

Name: How to Make a Killing
Released: 2025

2025 • Unknown

Woke Score

out of 10

Plot

Michel and Cathy, wed for longer than they can remember, lead a quiet but monotonous life in the mountains. When a bear bursts out in front of Michel’s car, accidentally killing two drug dealers and revealing a €2 million loot in the process, their life takes an unpredictable turn, especially when they decide to cover up the incident and keep the money! But their plan leads them to stumble upon an unexplained trail of dead bodies. More used to being honest than crooked, Michel and Cathy’s clumsy cover-up efforts soon put an interfering inspector hot on their trail.

Overall Series Review

The film is a dark comedy crime story that centers on a financially struggling, long-married French couple, Michel and Cathy, who discover a large sum of money after an accidental death. The narrative is driven by the couple’s shared descent into criminal cover-up out of greed and a desire to provide for their son. The movie is a small-scale, provincial satire with a focus on an incompetent, but warm-hearted, criminal duo. The primary 'woke' element is the inversion of traditional gender competence, where the wife, Cathy, acts as the capable and determined mastermind of the cover-up, while the husband, Michel, is portrayed as timid, dour, and a reluctant follower. There are no overt political lectures on race, class, or sexual ideology, and the setting and motivation are rooted in a specific, contained family dynamic.

Categorical Breakdown

Identity Politics2/10

The main conflict focuses on a white, financially struggling French couple's greed and accidental crime. There is no narrative focus on race, intersectionality, or the vilification of 'whiteness.' The plot is driven by universal human temptation and financial desperation, not systemic oppression.

Oikophobia1/10

The movie is a local, provincial crime satire set in the French Jura mountains. The characters are presented as 'authentically French' and their motivation is to protect their family and improve their financial situation. The film does not frame its home culture as fundamentally corrupt or demonize ancestors, instead focusing on an isolated moral failing.

Feminism6/10

The female protagonist, Cathy, is the competent, guiding force behind the entire criminal cover-up, using her knowledge of crime novels to formulate and execute the plan. Her husband, Michel, is depicted as timid and dour, a less capable and reluctant participant in the crime who initially panics. This creates a clear 'Girl Boss' dynamic where the male protagonist is emasculated by his wife’s superior criminal competence. However, the anti-natalism score is lowered because the motivation is explicitly tied to providing for their son with learning difficulties, which is a pro-family element.

LGBTQ+2/10

The main relationship is the traditional married couple, Michel and Cathy, and their family. Sexual identity is not a thematic element of the plot. The only non-normative element mentioned in reviews is a brief, comedic plot point where the couple attempts to create an alibi by involving an old friend who owns a swingers' club. This is a joke on sexual behavior, not an adherence to gender ideology or a critique of the nuclear family.

Anti-Theism2/10

Reviews do not indicate any explicit hostility toward religion or lectures on moral relativism. The characters’ subjective morality is a function of the classic crime genre's focus on greed and self-preservation, not an attack on transcendent morality or a demonization of Christian figures. The crime occurs around Christmas Eve, but the holiday context is primarily atmospheric.