Peg (Zoey Deutch) is a precocious twenty-year-old who has grown up on the lower end of the economic spectrum in the city of Buffalo, where she’d had a long life of being on the margins and never truly being able to have the life she feels she deserves. As a result, she makes use of her self-professed “gift of gab”, and her willingness to take enormous risks in the hopes that they pay off in even bigger ways, even if it means putting herself in something of a criminal position. Her most recent escapade involves debt collecting, something that she had experience with, considering the vast amount of collectors after her – taking her cue by promoting herself as someone with an intricate knowledge of sales, the young upstart is able to infiltrate the sleazy culture of debt collectors, winning them over with her ability to convince anyone to adhere to her demands, mainly through her astonishing charisma and ability to strongarm any potential outcome should she have the tools necessary. However, she finds out that this life isn’t without consequences, and when she has a particularly fateful rendezvous with Graham (Jermaine Fowler), a dedicated prosecuting attorney, she finds out the depths of the trouble she can get into – but considering Peg has always had something of a daredevil spirit to her activities, its hardly surprising that she sees this as less of a warning and more of a challenge, with the ramifications being something she knows is inevitable, but which she can evade for long enough to earn a living before she is caught and forced to atone for her misdeeds.

The past two decades have brought us a wealth of comedy films about more serious issues, particularly those that look at white-collar crime and financial or political misdeeds, with many filmmakers attempting to use these grave matters as a way of enlightening the audience as to how some factions of the population make their living. Energized with the highly-successful Wall Street satires like The Wolf of Wall Street and The Big Short, this brand of experimental comedy, in which we’re giving step-by-step lessons in how these activities are coordinated and executed, the crime comedy hasn’t been this endearing for a while. In Buffaloed, Tanya Wexler has crafted one of the most eccentric glimpses into the American working-class of the past few years, a hilariously irreverence comedy that touches on many broad themes, such as poverty and financial burden, coupling it with more abstract messages about resilience, tenacity and overcoming uncomfortable social situations as a way of working through the despair, even if it comes at a cost. At the outset, you’d likely be misled into believing this film to be nothing more than an upbeat, darkly comical satire that focuses on a cast of quirky characters committing awful crime – but as we venture deeper into Buffaloed, and start to understand precisely how it executes this rather complex story, as well as infusing it with some kind of resonant message, it becomes evident that this is an extremely special film and one that takes its subject matter seriously without compromising on the endearingly funny delivery of its messages.

Zoey Deutch has rapidly become one of her generation’s most exciting actresses – while by no means a performer who hasn’t had her time to prove her talents, she still feels like she hasn’t quite had her breakthrough, with films like Flower and Everybody Wants Some!! proving both her immense talents and independent spirit, but not quite making her the household name she will inevitably be. Buffaloed seems like the film that, should it be seen widely enough, will introduce her to a whole new audience, who will undoubtedly be captivated by what she is capable of doing. She has an effortless charm, being able to play this kind of peculiar character without being too outlandish to the point where she’s inconsistent or unrealistic. She’s a gripping presence, and commands the screen like few actresses of her generation are able to, and she manages to sell every moment to us with the authenticity embedded in her, making this outrageous story seem a lot more grounded than it actually is. The supporting cast also do exceptionally well in bringing this film to life, as well as bolstering Deutch’s incredible performance – Jermaine Fowler states his case as a cinematic leading man, playing the idealistic love interest (and, strangely enough, secondary antagonist), in his capacity as the dedicated attorney who is caught between his intentions to always do the right thing, and his urges to explore his fascination with this unconventional individual he has come into contact with. Judy Greer, whose contributions to her craft as a character actress have made her one of the most underpraised performers of her generation is wonderful as the protagonist’s mother, a woman at the very end of her wits, trying her best to make a life for her family, even when the odds are inherently stacked against her. Buffaloed is a character-driven film, and so it only stands to reason what it would excel the most when working with the actors, who are given these remarkably detailed characters that aren’t mere archetype, but rather something much deeper.

Buffaloed is a film that seems to be caught between two different genres, working well within each of them. The crime comedy is obviously not one that hasn’t been explored to its full capacity in the past, but it seems to take on a different appearance here. No longer necessarily about the glamour of being a career criminal, nor a manifesto on all the ways one can avoid facing the consequences if they make use of their resourcefulness, Wexler’s film is more about the inevitability of our actions, and how the thrill may be compelling, they might ultimately not be worth the risk of changing the course of your life. Buffaloed is not necessarily a film that derives humour from the criminal activity it depicts (even if the film does make the point of breaking them down for us enough, to make it appear that anyone who possesses the right audacity can enter into such a career), but rather finds the lighter side of terrible economic and social issues that afflict a large portion of the population. Setting this film in Buffalo, an ordinary working-class town (and one that has been oddly underrepresented), was an important choice, as it allowed Wexler to not only explore the sordid lives of debt-collectors (which are actually quite inconsequential in the grander scheme of this film), but rather the lives of desperate people. The film touches on issues of inequality of social malcontents, many of which are doing whatever they can to survive in a world inherently against them, showing their plight without resorting to false feelings of sentimentality – we’re supposed to identify with these characters, not pity them – and Buffaloed does exceptionally well in showing us a different side of society without ever feeling compelled to simplify what makes it so special in the first place.

What we can’t forget is that, despite sometimes heavy subject matter, Buffaloed is an exceptionally fun film – it makes great use of its comedic sensibilities, and positions a hilarious young performer in the central role, and surrounding her with many incredibly talented individuals that help propel the film forward. Logically, Buffaloed is not a film that should’ve worked as well as it did – it could have very easily become lost in its attempts to be an insightful satire, which the director narrowly avoids by infusing more heart into it that other similarly-themed films. This is not a film that proposes to be some steadfast lesson on the trials and tribulations of debt collectors – that part of the story is actually secondary to the more resonant themes of working-class strife, which Wexler evokes with great sincerity, never quite going far enough to lose sight of both the bigger thematic concepts she’s intent on exploring, but also not neglecting the film’s comedic intentions. Outrageously funny, heartfelt and meaningful in how it captures a rare aspect of the human condition, Buffaloed is a terrific film, and one that should not be underestimated – there’s a depth to this film that goes far beyond its relatively simple premise and appearance of being just another quirky comedy. The irreverence of the story will draw you in, but the raw emotion and exuberant soul will be exactly what makes you stay, which is not something that this kind of small-scale comedy normally tends to be able to boast about – but like its idiosyncratic protagonist, Buffaloed is unique, captivating and extremely persuasive, and entirely unforgettable from beginning to end.