The Beta Test is a 2021 dark comedy/thriller co-written and co-directed by Jim Cummings and PJ McGabe.
It stars Cummings as a high-strung talent agent who gets sucked into a conspiracy of sexual espionage.
It features supporting performances by Virginia Newcomb and PJ McGabe.
This film provides examples of:
- Actor Allusion: Jordan repeatedly attempts to impersonate a law enforcement officer. Actor Jim Cummings has played police officers in the previous two roles he wrote for himself as well as several others.
- Ambiguous Situation: Did Jordan's secretary really make that joke about someone sitting on his face? We hear her say it, but it could be through Jordan's paranoid perceptions. She seems to have no idea why he has a problem with something she said.
- Albinos Are Freaks: Johnny Paypal turns out to be a creepy albino.
- Babies Make Everything Better: In the end, it's implied that Caroline is pregnant, and the couple resolves to stay together.
- Bad Boss: Jordan turns extremely nasty on his secretary when he hears her make a joke about someone sitting on his face, which is what happened during his clandestine encounter. It's left unclear if she really made the joke or if he misheard her.
- Basement-Dweller: Johnny Paypal is revealed to be a basement dwelling weirdo.
- Blackmail Backfire: Subverted. Jordan does track down Johnny Paypal with the intent to kill him, but Johnny wasn't really blackmailing anyone. He was demanding $5,000 from each recipient to reveal the identity of their perfect match. This revelation causes Jordan to lose his nerve and flee.
- Blatant Lies: Jordan tries to bribe a hotel clerk in LA by playing up his status as a talent agent. When that doesn't work, he blurts out that he's a cop. The clerk immediately asks why, if that's true, he just spent so long claiming to be a powerful talent agent. It borders on being a Running Gag that he repeatedly claims to be a police officer despite having already said he's a talent agent when talking to his building manager.
- Chick Magnet: Jordan locks eyes with a few attractive women over the course of the film. In the end, a beautiful waitress writes her phone number on his check even though he's sitting right across from his fiance.
- Compulsive Liar: Jordan's main issue is that he lies constantly, and his whole life is essentially a facade. Even his fiance notes, "It must be absolutely exhausting pretending to be you."
- A Deadly Affair: The purple envelopes are causing murders throughout Los Angeles when the resulting affairs get discovered. We see several of them.
- Decoy Protagonist: The film begins by focusing on a Swedish couple, who to not appear after the first scene.
- Foreshadowing:
- The Swedish woman requests only $5,000 to separate from her husband. In the end, it's revealed that Johnny Paypal demands that exact sum to reveal his victims' perfect match.
- Jordan is shown scrolling aimlessly on social media around half an hour into the movie. This is revealed to be how Johnny Paypal finds his targets.
- Horrible Hollywood: Hollywood is portrayed as a rotten place, despite not showing any actors or artists. Everyone is relentlessly self-absorbed, rude, and out for themselves.
- Karma Houdini: Johnny Paypal gets beaten with a hammer but is left free to make millions off of his purple envelopes.
- Imagine Spot: In an early scene, Jordan fantasizes about a random attractive woman becoming frenzied with lust for him.
- Impersonating an Officer: Jordan repeatedly claims to be a cop or federal agent when investigating the purple envelopes. It works once.
- A Man Is Always Eager: Jordan is incredibly horny all the time and can't help but get distracted by every attractive woman he sees. Against his better judgment, he follows an invitation to an anonymous sexual encounter, which turns his life upside down.
- No Name Given: The culprit behind the purple envelopes is never named. The closest we get is an obvious pseudonym, Johnny Paypal, that he used on a form.
- Red Right Hand: Johnny Paypal is an albino with a cleft palate.
- Rule of Symbolism: The camera lingers several times on Jordan inspecting his pearly white front teeth after removing a whitening strip from them. Toward the end of the film, he pulls back his lip to note that his back teeth are yellow and rotting. This is symbolic of his whole life: a healthy facade hiding dysfunction.
- Signature Style: Once again, Cummings plays an insecure and increasingly unhinged man who completely breaks down during an extended rant.
- Social Media Is Bad: PJ notes that everything you do on the internet, particularly on social media, can be scraped and used to create a profile about you. Johnny Paypal is using people's behavior on social media, such as listing their relationship status as engaged and yet "liking" attractive people, to find vulnerable targets for his scheme.
- Symbolic Glass House: Laura and Raymond are shown to live in a glass house, from which she chases him and shoots him after finding out that he's been cheating on her.
