Buffaloed

Peg Dahl is a sharp-witted young woman in Buffalo, New York, who has her sights set on an Ivy League university and a life far from her hometown. When her acceptance letter arrives, she realises she cannot cover the tuition, and a twist of circumstance draws her into the debt-collection trade. She turns out to be unusually good at it, but her success puts her on a collision course with the established debt collector who dominates the city.

Tanya Wexler directed the film, which sits between Hysteria (2011) and Jolt (2021) in her filmography. Brian Sacca wrote the screenplay, and the producers include Jeffrey Katzenberg, Mason Novick and Zoey Deutch. Deutch plays Peg, with Judy Greer as Kathy, Jermaine Fowler as Graham, Jai Courtney as Wizz, Noah Reid as JJ and Lusia Strus as Frances heading a credited cast of 42. Released in February 2020, it runs 95 minutes and mixes comedy with drama.

Reception was moderate across the board. On IMDb the film holds 6.2 out of 10 from around 9,300 votes, while on TMDB it sits at 6.6 out of 10 from 293 votes. A critics' rating of 6.5 out of 10 from 59 reviews places it close to the audience scores, suggesting a film that drew a similar, mildly favourable response from both reviewers and viewers rather than dividing them sharply.