Kajillionaire review: Small-time crook caper won’t make millions, but who cares?

American artist Miranda July makes brazenly wayward comedies. Her latest is about the Dynes, three furtive, off-the-grid Californian schemers who, on a whim, welcome a bubbly Latina, Melanie, into their fold. Melanie’s always wanted to be part of an Ocean’s Eleven-style heist; she doesn’t realise the Dynes are ideologically committed to small-time crookery and that they despise the extravagantly wealthy, whom they label Kajillionaires.

Even by July’s standards, the film dillies and dallies, plot-wise. But, jeez Louise, once the Dynes and Melanie encounter a communal bath tub, everything clicks.

An androgynous Evan Rachel Wood, below, is beguiling as Old Dolio, the emotionally frozen daughter of Robert and Theresa Dyne. The couple (Debra Winger and Richard Jenkins; both awesome) treat Old Dolio more like a junior partner. And though the whole family give off a sexless and self-abnegating air, it turns out they all have needs. Winger and Jenkins are disquieting to the max (it’s incredible that they manage to avoid turning Robert and Theresa into grotesques), while Gina Rodriguez, who plays Melanie, is even more spry and winning than she was in TV series Jane the Virgin. The twists lead to a gorgeously satisfying climax. Kajillionaire won’t make anyone rich, but who cares?

You can’t put a price on a movie as sweet as this one.

In cinemas