What if there was an app that allowed people to hook up anonymously without fear of consequence or being canceled? That’s generally the premise of The Beta Test, a zany thriller that plunges its protagonist into a world of paranoia, infidelity, and data mining.

Jim Cummings stars as Jordan, a soon-to-be-married Hollywood agent who receives a fancy letter inviting him to hook up with someone anonymously. He spends the bulk of the film trying to figure out who he had sex with while blindfolded. He’s convinced that the woman saw him and knows who he is because he removed the blindfold and glanced at her just before exiting the hotel room. Everyone’s a suspect. His anonymous partner could have been a waitress at his favorite restaurant, or an intern at his agency, or his best friend’s significant other. Jordan also tries to uncover who’s responsible for sending the letters, all while keeping everything a secret from his fiancé, Caroline (Virginia Newcomb).

Cummings wrote and directed the film with PJ McCabe, who also plays Jordan’s best friend at the agency. To be clear, though, this is very much the Jim Cummings show. Like his other films, Thunder Road and The Wolf of Snow Hollow, he plays a high-strung protagonist one inch away from a full-blown nervous breakdown. I get that his acting may be too over-the-top for some, but I’ve always liked it. His outrageousness and absurdity can be funny, especially in this film. In one scene, Jordan lashes out at an intern, Jaclyn (Jacqueline Doke), because he’s so paranoid and believes she knows his kinks, which he listed in his response to the letter. The intensity of Jordan’s anxiety is reinforced by the numerous close-ups of his face as if he’s screaming at the viewer. It’s effective in showcasing his heightened and dramatized sense of reality.

The Beta Test hits at much bigger themes than Cummings’ other two films, which mostly focused on father/son relationships and small-town communities. Here, the film tackles infidelity, paranoia, data mining, cancel culture, and even the film industry. It doesn’t always quite work, but it’s nice to see Cummings and McCabe swing for the fences and play with some bold and big ideas.

I only wish that some of the film’s other characters were better developed, especially Caroline. She comes across as too flat, overshadowed by Jordan’s bombast. The strain in their relationship is especially evident in the film’s second half, but I wanted more reaction to the fact that he’s totally disengaged, to the point that he ignores all the wedding planning. He’s utterly consumed by his act of infidelity and trying to discover who’s responsible for the anonymous invitations.

The Beta Test has an incredibly clever premise, specifically the idea that someone could mine your digital footprint to determine whether you’d cheat and then target you for an anonymous hookup. The rest of the film plays out like a whirlwind of paranoia, lying, and indefinitely. Cummings is yet again at the center of a movie he directed, playing yet another anxiety-ridden protagonist. But here, he and McCabe truly toy with some larger concepts, and The Beta Test is a highly engaging, outrageous thriller.

The Beta Test reviewed as part of our Austin Film Festival (AFF) coverage.

8.5 Out of 10 Blindfolds