After his father’s tragic death in an auto accident, food vlogger Jeff Blake (Bret Lada, TV’s Alpha House) learns a nice surprise through an online ancestry service: He has a half-brother! Curious, Jeff drives to the rural, rundown farm to meet his heretofore unknown sibling, Andy Baker (Dustin Fontaine), the product of an affair.

Although they resemble one another, the two couldn’t be more different: Typical of a YouTube influencer/narcissist, Jeff is a preening, preppy ass, whereas Andy, in his denim overalls and overgrown beard, looks like “a live-action Berenstain Bear.”

Presented as a compilation of footage found by New Jersey police in 2020, The Andy Baker Tape captures the brothers from meeting day to falling out and beyond, all within a three-week span. Jeff’s hoping to score a Food Network show and enlists Andy for help as cameraman. Andy’s happy to oblige … until he senses disrespect. Still relative strangers, both clearly are working out issues in real time; they just need to — ahem — bury the hatchet.

Essentially a two-hander, The Andy Baker Tape is also that way behind the camera: Lada directed, Fontaine produced, and both talented actors shared scripting duties. A point in their favor is thriller’s compactness, bowing out shortly after the one-hour mark — and before wearing out the welcome. Without spoiling where it goes, the movie is all the more unsettling because the situation could happen — and has, as NBC’s Dateline and its ilk demonstrate week after week.

You’ve seen much worse COVID projects, but few better. And its last line is killer. —Rod Lott