Becket Redfellow (Glen Powell) is no ordinary convicted man on death row, and not just because he wears a satin slumber mask with his prison coveralls. The story he tells, to a visiting priest (Adrian Lukis), is an astonishing one: how he, born to a obscenely rich family yet shut out of its fortunes, schemed to bump off every relative standing in the way of a vast inheritance.

This is the premise, spelled out in its opening minutes, of John Patton Ford’s “How to Make a Killing,” and it’s a promising one; unfortunately, even Powell’s charismatic presence — this actor never met a camera he couldn’t charm; see him in Netflix’s “Hit Man” if you doubt me — can’t make up for the fact that this dark comedy/thriller needs more comedy, and more thrills.

It’s a disappointment, as on paper this one looked like a lot of fun. The cast is appealing: Ed Harris as Becket’s estranged father; Topher Grace, Bill Camp and an amusingly dim Zach Woods among the assortment of relatives on Becket’s to-do list; Margaret Qualley as a femme fatale from Becket’s past. But most of them don’t get much screen time — the structure of the story means that as soon as we get to know a character, he or she is likely to disappear, and honestly I started losing track of who was in line to go — and Qualley in particular seems as if she’s in a different movie, her very stylized, arch performance at odds with Powell’s trademark breeziness.

Powell’s charm, along with some fun rich-person interiors (there's a library near the end that gives a stellar performance), does a lot to get “How to Make a Killing” to the finish line. But you may well lose interest, as I did, before the murder countdown concludes; this one feels more like a rough draft than a truly well-thought-out movie. Throughout, there are intriguing little glimmers of what might have been. At one point, somebody asks Becket if he can keep a secret, and the sly, low-key spin Powell puts on “Surprisingly well, actually” is almost worth the popcorn price right there. He’s truly a movie star; file this one under missed opportunities.

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'HOW TO MAKE A KILLING'

2 stars (out of 4)

MPA rating: R (for language and some violence/bloody images)

Running time: 1:45

How to watch: In theaters Feb. 20

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