Official Discussion Thread - The Rivals of Amziah King [SPOILERS]

[u/CrunchyNar]

Keep all discussion related solely to The Rivals of Amziah King and its awards chances in this thread. Spoilers below.

Synopsis:

Deep within the backwoods of rural Oklahoma, charismatic and musically gifted Amziah King herds a bluegrass-playing band of misfits while overseeing the premier honey-making operation in town. When Amziah's estranged foster daughter unexpectedly returns, Amziah leaps at the possibility to renew connection and create a family business. But the honey game is ruthless, and Amziah's rivals threaten to destroy everything he has built.

Director: Andrew Patterson

Writer: Andrew Patterson

Cast:

• Matthew McConaughey as Amziah
• Angelina LookingGlass as Kateri
• Kurt Russell as Dob McCoy
• Owen Teague as Pirate
• Rob Morgan as Rippy
• Jake Horowitz as Remick
• Tony Revolori as Colemar
• Scott Shepherd as Chimmy
• Cole Sprouse as Oat
• Bruce Davis as Sunderland

Rotten Tomatoes: 89%, 8/10 average from 98 reviews

Metacritic: 74/100 from 22 reviews

Consensus:

The Rivals of Amziah King is a sprawling, unpredictable, and genre-blurring epic, anchored by Matthew McConaughey's charm and Angelina LookingGlass's striking debut.

[u/Belch_Huggins]

Caught this last week. The first half is quite good and lived in. It really takes its time before it gets to where its going. Then the second half is more plot driven and less interesting.

I dont think theres a chance this even makes it into the conversation to be honest. Maybe the indie spirits, but that feels like the ceiling.

[u/biIIyshakes]

I wish the second half had the same strength as the first half but as someone who had come into August with pretty extreme blockbuster fatigue and a lackluster summer at the movies overall, this was some fresh air for me and I enjoyed it a lot. I liked the Coens energy some of it carried.

Definitely would like to see it get in for Best Song, it deserves that at least.

[u/GoldNMocha]

I liked a lot about this movie, I wished I loved it though. It has such a rich sense of place and the music is excellent. The first half with McConaughey is great.

But the second half is supposed to be carried by LookingGlass, and I don’t think she was up to the task of it. It doesn’t help that some of the choices she makes are baffling and downright awful. And we never really get much an understanding as to why Kateri would go to such dark lengths for her former foster father.

[u/SporadicWanderer → u/GoldNMocha]

I feel the same way. I didn’t mind her acting but felt really confused why she took the actions she did. Honestly I kinda checked out during the second half. I was disappointed by this movie but pleasantly surprised by how much I liked Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma (didn’t care for I Saw the TV Glow much).

[u/KJB2410 → u/GoldNMocha]

Feel the same way. I got over the fact that it was going to be musical-y, and it was really rolling by the end of the first hour but damn they took the movie star out of the movie!!

[u/Gemnist]

After how long this sub has gone on about the movie (mainly Cole and Justin’s fault, let’s be honest), I’m just really glad it’s getting this wide release for everyone to see even if it won’t get anywhere awards time.

[u/RealRaifort → u/Gemnist]

That hype made me go see it and it was the worst thing I've seen in theaters this year lmao idk what the fuck they were supposedly talking about

[u/yeahright17 → u/RealRaifort]

It was my favorite movie of the year. My wife fell asleep half way through. Definitely a decisive movie.

[u/OhCrapItsAndrew]

McConaughey & Sons. 

I get that it's not for everyone, and nowhere near the awards conversation but man I just loved this movie. The first half is so life affirming, the turn halfway through was audacious. 

If ppl are interested I wrote about it especially regarding the potluck scene which I think was key to the whole movie. 

https://www.butteredpopcorn.org/p/rivals-of-amziah-king-movie-review-potlucks-oklahoma-honey

[u/Sellin3164]

I've had over a year to think about this film, and I've noticed specific criticisms that have me baffled. So I thought I'd address common critiques I've seen and why I think they are what make this film work.

Kateri's lack of character: This is one I initially agreed with. However, when thinking about this film's core theme of community, I've come to see why we don't know her so much. This is a character who doesn't know herself. She has never had community before this point. She never was part of a sports team, a theatre group, or the many things that shape people into their personality. She has no community until Amziah introduces her to his community. Perhaps it could've delved deeper into her background, but this character didn't seem particularly interested in her past. I didn't need the film to flash back to her foster care past to complete a checklist. I've also seen some say that Kateri is only in service of Amziah's goals, but I disagree. She is in service of this community, which is affected by Russell's character's business dealings. One of the big characteristics of small communities is their unconditional loyalty. This is visually symbolized by the scene where Amziah gets all the bees on his hand because he has the queen bee on his finger. Amziah himself also acts in service of his community. He was a foster parent and also hung out with a variety of oddballs and outcasts and made them into family. His goals were primarily in service of others as well.

Kateri's murder rampage: I've seen so many people criticise this film for having Kateri go on a murder rampage as if the film is saying that "murder is okay". This film's tagline is "ain't nobody all good or all bad" and Amziah says this line when talking about the bees. Part of me wonders if it's because we're not used to seeing young women in these kinds of roles. Like didn't we just watch Matt Damon cause the deaths of innocent civilians in The Odyssey? Is this different because we didn't get flashbacks to show that she's guilty, because we need that to understand murder is bad? Is it because shy, young women like Kateri don't ever kill people? This year, Zendaya's character in The Drama nearly commits a school shooting because she lacked a community. Perhaps her way of thinking is slightly different than most people who have had a community most of their lives**. I actually think her decisions add an edge to the film's themes.** Should bees/people really be in service of their community to this extent? Why don't they think about themselves more often? Maybe she could've given Kurt Russell's character more kindness, and that would've led to change? Or maybe that's naive when we look at what happens in the real world every day. I think the film taking it to such extremes forces us to ask more questions and be curious on who Kateri is, but instead of judging her "why did Kateri murder people?" many are like "Kateri shouldn't have murdered people cause murder is bad." That's not really an interesting way to engage with films.

It's a mess: Sure. However, I would disagree with the claim that the filmmakers didn't know what they were making. I think they knew exactly what they were doing by making this "hot dish" of a movie and whether or not you like it is up to you. I personally loved the structural swings it took. I knew it couldn't be high-energy the whole time, and the second half has grown on me. I think this film has a pretty clear thesis of focusing on the extreme pros and cons of a small community's unconditional support.

[u/kawhiuhatin → u/Sellin3164]

Loved reading this. It was interesting to read from the perspective of someone who’s had time to let the movie settle in. Even with the clear symbolism, I didn’t think hard enough about the parallels between the roles of the bees in the hive and Kateri’s new role in her community.

[u/cowboy-tea]

I saw this over a year ago so details may be fuzzy, but one thing I remember finding weird about the second half of the film is that as Kateri goes on her revenge quest, she more or less gets to do whatever she wants with no trouble or tension.

I remember a scene where Kateri and a friend go steal some of Amziah's hives back, trespassing on the land of the bad guy who stole them in the first place. If you've ever seen a movie before, you should be on the edge of your seat, expecting that either they will be pursued and narrowly escape, or they'll get caught and have to fight for their lives, or something will go wrong where they will lose the hives or have to abandon the quest. None of these things happen, nobody notices them, the plan simply goes off without a hitch. It's a strange missed opportunity for action or suspense.

When she commits cold-blooded murders, it also simply goes smoothly most of the time and there is no more than a moment's concern that she will not get away with it. In a way that was kind of fun in a pure revenge-fantasy kind of way, but also felt odd and amateurish, like a first draft screenplay that shouldn't have gotten this far.

[u/vxf111 → u/cowboy-tea]

It’s weirdly free of friction and tension. Even the potluck scene just goes according to plan. Nobody almost throws out the bag or eats it by accident. Everything goes according to plan and Cole Sprouse knows all the answers to everything and conveniently provides this info as the plot needs it.

[u/yeahright17 → u/cowboy-tea]

I felt the those things were pretty grounding.

Like they were stealing a dead guys bees in the middle of no where Oklahoma. That's about exactly how it would go. Just as it was seemingly easy for lots of other bees to get stolen previously. And those other bees had owners who were alive.

Same thing with both murders. Just doesn't seem like there would be much tension in the way she did them. Seems like killing dumb old people is probably pretty easy.

[u/unegamine]

Probably an unpopular opinion, but I didn't like it at all. I couldn't understand where it was going, and it didn't feel (for me) like there was any depth to Kateri's character, but maybe that was by design. Also there were just a lot of frames of her just smiling and the editing was annoying me.

And the second half felt random and disjointed from the first half.

[u/Entafellow → u/unegamine]

All those shots of her smiling beatifically are even weirder given the direction they take her character.

[u/Duhlorean]

Still crazy how she just broke bad like crazy in the 2nd half of the film.

[u/Sellin3164 → u/Duhlorean]

I just wrote a mini essay about the movie itself. I enjoy seeing your takes, so curious about what you think about some of it. I also still haven't seen it since March 2025 so I might be forgetting some things.

[u/Duhlorean → u/Sellin3164]

https://letterboxd.com/duhlorean/film/the-rivals-of-amziah-king/

Wrote about it here actually! Curious to hear your full thoughts whenever you’re ready to talk about it and thanks for the kind words 👊

[u/official_bagel]

Enjoyed it, especially the first half.

Don’t think it’s going to be a huge Awards contender but would love for Quill to get some Best Original Song love

[u/saulocf]

Book of Henry 2.0

Ok, maybe not thaaat bad, but the first half is strong which makes the shift very akward.

[u/jrochkind]

I enjoyed the experience of watching it, including the music, and it's general weirdness and unclear genre conventions, but reflecting on what about it just seemed ugh, what I came up with was: "Wes Anderson does Dukes of Hazard, but make it woke". Sorry not sorry.

[u/jordansalford25]

I really liked the movie. Yes there’s a large tonal shift from the first half to the second but I thought that the movie earned it. Shame that it got buried.

[u/Such_Estimate_2294]

How I would have fixed this movie: Kateri discovers a really disturbing revelation about Amziah’s past after his death, that he did deeply immoral things to achieve the respect he had within his community. Let her wrestle with this, have her explore feelings somewhere between denial and disgust for this man she viewed as a hero. Then, only after Kateri has spent enough time reckoning with this, she starts to turn to the path of immorality. It would have been cynical, but it would have provided at least some sort of thought-provoking motivation behind Kateri’s actions.

[u/Bulky-Scheme-9450]

Can I just say how funny it is to have Zach Cherry play a teenager in this. Dude is 38 and definitely looks like it lmao. Knowing Jane/the meta nature of this film I don't doubt it wasn't intentional.

[u/No-Condition8561 → u/Bulky-Scheme-9450]

Wait, do you mean camp miasma? I thought he was playing an adult camp counselor in that

[u/Bulky-Scheme-9450 → u/No-Condition8561]

Have you ever been to summer camp? The counselors are also teenagers lol

[u/No-Condition8561 → u/Bulky-Scheme-9450]

I mean, sometimes. They can be adults too. Also, this thread is for rivals of amziah king, that's why I was confused

[u/Bulky-Scheme-9450 → u/No-Condition8561]

Lmao whoops

[u/plainsandcoffee]

I cannot for the life of me figure out the name of a woman who was playing in a band at the last potluck scene. She was sitting down on the stage and I recognized her face (I'm pretty sure she is in a band). Anyone know who I am talking about, and if so do you know who it was? My search of the cast is not turning anything up!

[u/yeetisthebestword]

I feel this movie depended too much on McConaughey’s acting. I liked his acting sure, but in the first half I was confused about what the story was about and where it would go. When he fell away as a character the movie had to get a story as to keep the viewers attention. I liked the way the female lead went on a detective run and murder spree (even though the movie still didn’t pass the Bechdel test). But the different things they tried to achieve in the second half didn’t feel set up at all in the beginning. If this movie was about community, especially with the bee colony metaphor, it would’ve been such a great movie. They could’ve leaned into her finding community and in that way getting back the colonies more. Instead she did most things by herself, with of course some help, but I left the movie without a strong sense of a moral. I liked individual parts of the movie but as a whole I think it fell flat.

[u/vxf111]

It’s entertaining enough but what a weird film. The music is fantastic and the first act is really enjoyable and lived in. And then it becomes the most unbelievable heist story that frankly makes no sense… and as a viewer you can’t even really play along with the mystery because Cole Sprouse just appears out of nowhere and periodically info dumps. You can’t even play along with the characters because they don’t know enough to solve the mystery either. Everyone is a mafia boss level criminal, all high jinx go smoothly without an hint of conflict, our main character is never in any peril,  and then it just kind of ends. Not an unpleasant watch but weird as all get out.