An excerpt from my script review for Inherit the Viper which will be available 03/16/20:
3.) Quality of Characters
If you’ve seen Ozark and Ruth Langmore, you’ve more or less seen Josie and the Conley clan.
Damn near cookie cutter, especially with their dad being in prison and “trying to escape” the poison that he was.
Try as the boys might, Josie doesn’t really seem to care to leave the life behind, they can’t get away from the “viper’s venom”.
(That was a cheap ass tie in, btw.)
Remember, if you have an older project, even if it was written before something popular came along, you’ll still need to go back and make sure it isn’t dated.
Next, make sure you have compelling characters, especially if you’re dabbling in a subgenre (lower class white crime family), so you’ll add your own original spin on it.
An argument I have against Ruth Langmore as well, I didn’t like how Josie was a stone cold character for most of the script, and then suddenly cracks under pressure while dealing at the football game.
Hasn’t she done this before?
It comes across as a huge letdown that she’s so in control of each and every situation before this, and then suddenly chickens out. Made the rest hard to believe.
(Ruth having monumental daddy issues was a problem for me with Ozark too. She’s this badass the whole rest of the season then daddy calls her “baby girl” and she starts blubbering like an idiot.)
Aside from that, Kip being a hothead helped thing slightly.
Also enjoyed Josie and Clay’s antagonizing banter.
Lastly, the cliché “moment” between Knox and Josie felt too Save the Cat for me…inserted for the sake of following some formula that wasn’t working.
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