SXSW Review: “Chili Finger”

Chili Finger (Edd Benda/Stephen Helstad, 2026) 3½ out of 5 stars

Co-directors Edd Benda and Stephen Helstad, who previously collaborated on the films The Kids Table and Superior, clearly love the work of Ethan and Joel Coen; their latest effort, Chili Finger, is very much an homage to the 1996 Fargo. For good measure, they even include the actor John Goodman, a longtime partner of the Coens (though he was not in Fargo). The new movie is more than just a pastiche of others’ techniques, however, delivering its own unique thrills and comedy, buoyed by excellent performances from a stellar cast.

Judy Greer (Halloween Kills) stars as Jessica (or Jess) Lipki, a small-town Midwestern attorney married to mill-worker Ron (Sean Astin, The Man in the White Van). When their college-bound daughter leaves for her first year at school, they experience the usual empty-nest syndrome, compounded by their long years of passionless habit side-by-side and lack of extra money to plan a visit to see their girl later that fall. All that changes when, as per the movie’s title, Jess finds a severed finger in a bowl of chili at “Blake Juniors,” a regional chain with big expansion plans.

We have reason to guess the provenance of said digit thanks to an opening scene set in a bottling plant, but the full story will not become clear until later. In the meantime, Blake Junior II (Madeline Wise, Materialists), who has taken over management from the company’s titular founder, her father (Goodman), decides the best way to deal with the potential PR disaster is to just pay the couple off. In the negotiations, $10K quickly turns into $100K, prompting Blake Junior to send his best friend and roommate, Dave (Bryan Cranston, Asteroid City), to investigate further.

Madcap does not do full justice to what ensues. As Cranston’s mutton-chopped, nut-chewing amateur sleuth digs deeper into the truth, what he finds leads to violence and mayhem, all of it administered with a hefty dose of panache. If at times the mixed tone of humor and drama doesn’t quite hold together—with some scenes more forced than other—the net result still proves genuinely entertaining.

It’s great to see Greer in a leading role like this, so often does she play (to perfection) the supporting parts. Astin is funny as her sad sack of a husband, especially when he learns he may no longer be able to eat at his favorite restaurant following the settlement. Cranston continues to show he can do no wrong, and Goodman (strikingly gaunt these days) still has his trademark presence, with Wise a worthy choice for his offspring. You may not want to eat chili (or a finger) ever again, but you’ll enjoy the intestinal discomfort that gets you there.

Christopher Llewellyn Reed

Chris Reed is the editor of Film Festival Today. A member of both the Online Film Critics Society (OFCS) and the Washington DC Area Film Critics Association (WAFCA), and a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic, Chris is, in addition, lead film critic at Hammer to Nail and the author of Film Editing: Theory and Practice.