From the trailers, the viewer knows what themes to expect from this film. But unfortunately, an entire movie has to be about more than just male fragility and office gender politics. On that superficial level, he's doing well. There is a slow burn of tension and passive aggressiveness at a good pace throughout the image. However, there are too many insurmountable obstacles for this to be a fully realized film.
First, you could say that there are no sympathetic characters. I suspect that we, as an audience, are meant to resonate with the two leads, but it didn't work out well for me. The young investment professionals coming in are just a hard step for me.
Director: Chloe Domont
Writer: Chloe Domont
Stars: Phoebe Dynevor, Alden Ehrenreich, Eddie Marsan
I will give credit to the filmmaker who gave complexity to the main characters, their ambitions and insecurities, particularly Emily, portraying each of them in unflattering lights. But he never made me connect with them. In particular, there was what could be called Tom Cruise's plot armor for Emily. She finds herself in a challenging situation, but the child prodigy is able to prevail in the end. (Perhaps a better example would be the Sidney Poitier effect...having one actor carry the burden of fantastic excellence as a representative of an entire demographic).
The actors grew on me as the film progressed, but they tended to lose much of that goodwill with atrocious overacting in later stages. Alden Ehrenreich was useful as Luke, portraying emotional reactions (at least for most of the film). Phoebe Dynevor, as Emily, was equally attractive at first. But unfortunately, as seems to happen all too often, a Brit with an apathetic American accent gnaws at it. (Full disclosure...I KNOW this is on me, it's the audience's responsibility to suspend disbelief...but when you know something is wrong, it's distracting...I think, maybe the character isn't who they say they are?? Or is it just the Actor? Only after watching the movie, I checked IMDb and confirmed it).
I think there was a better movie hidden somewhere in this story. A glimpse may have been seen in a scene later in the film. A scene indirectly reminiscent of Sam Peckinpah's Straw Dogs. (Anyone familiar with that film's most controversial scene, with Susan George, will be able to understand it immediately.) It's mentioned later, almost as an afterthought, but it would have been a much more interesting route to take regarding the main characters' relationship.
Comments
Post a Comment