You're Killing Me

Just some observations mixed with questions to follow. I don't recognize most of these characters. The lead and her bestie's relationship seem plausible enough. Others however, don't feel like people that exist any place but in a movie. How and why are the antagonists here friends? The sniveling Gooch is completely and stupefyingly inept, getting owned every time by female characters, both enemies and allies, and he loves slapping his head... a lot. He's also easily the most helpless, hopeless character and the movie's (scape)GOAT! I won't bother much with the vaguely lesbian Kendra, and her butterfly knife(?) or the leader of the strangely insular trio Barrett, making(and looking)like an ersatz, young Kevin Bacon. Of greater concern is the linchpin event, at the heart of this story. Barrett is the highly privileged son of a congressman who trolls the streets in broad daylight picking up a familiar, but hesitant young girl, with his number one and two in tow? Really? Who thought this was a winning idea? You'll notice phones are like another character here. Things happen with them that are highly questionable, but convenient to the plot. Dermot Mulroney is on board, in a turn similar to the one he played in this year's Scream sequel, and the late Anne Heche plays his wife and she, well... see for yourself. The lesser known players are solid enough, but some say and do "iffy" things that detract from their performances. One scene has the lead girl, Eden intending to schmooze up to (Barrett) Schroder for reasons known to both, but when it's just the two of them alone, he's doing all the talking while she can barely wait to dispense with the small talk, cutting straight to the chase with all the finesse of Godzilla stomping through Tokyo! While this movie's third act is more interesting than what came before it, it's the clunky stuff that came before that holds it back, as a whole. I actually started this review while still watching the film. I was ready to give it 2 stars 30-40 mins in, before it continued to it's conclusion and I realized that it would be too harsh a judgment. It's simply not that bad, but it also, while competently assembled with a certain amount of flair, has character, dialogue and script/plot issues that keep it firmly in, "It's ok" territory.

Remember the Geico commercial where the teenagers are running from an ax murderer and they come across a running car and the one girls says ," why can't we just get in the running car". They of course decide not to get in the car and go hide right in front of the ax murderer. THAT'S THIS MOVIE!

The movie centers around a high school senior Eden Murphy who is trying to get into a prestigious college. But she needs a letter of recommendation from her classmate's father who is a man of influence. Her classmate doesn't really want to help her so she decides to attend a party at his house to try and get on his good side. This is where the "fun" starts.

This movie gives horror movies a bad name. It's just one implausible decision after another. But it goes beyond that. The story line is awful. I don't think I could s story this bad if I tried.

There's not one redeeming quality in this movie. Horrible script and laughable performances from the actors (but with a script is so bad I'm not sure the actors could do much).

Have you ever watched a movie and hoped all the characters would just die by time the movie ends - and in a hurry. That's THIS movie.

Save yourself the time and pick something else.

Overall quite great for a rather low budget film, and a decent thriller that shouldn't have a problem keeping viewers on the edge of their seat. The plot was far from perfect however, with a lot of moments I personally found hard to interpret, and a lot of filler as well. Color grading was also little poor, with the entire film being quite dark. Characters and acting were overall decent, though it would've been better if each character had more time at the beginning to establish themself. Casting seemed to be decent, though it would've been interesting to see what else could've been accomplished if this wasn't where the majority of the budget went.

This film does little to develop any of the characters, and the plot is basic rich/poor at a fancy school. Except the target is entry to an Ivy league school rather than to stop bullying.

So stock rich kids & poor kids engage so the poor one can finagle into a school that her poor friend has a full ride. Rich kids are standard rich kids with all the excess that comes with it.

Oh wait, the film starts wurh a missing girl!

What starts as a standard party to get ahead turns into a heist and hostage situation. All the wrong choices are made, all the obvious signs are ignored, and the revenge is served stupidly.

Oh well. Anne Heche filmed her part soon before she died. She looked as if she was ready to fall over intoxicated. Or she was reeling from chemo.

Tense only due to the stupidity if the characters.

Acting is ok. Cinematography is ok. Directing is meh. What is really bad is the writing. There so so many times where these people aren't doing anything that makes sense. The choices that are made are bad and illogical. It really is just super bad writing. The acting is ok though some performances were meh. Nothing ever felt scary. I am a HUGE horror movie fan and this was just horrible. It really felt like this was written by young people posing in horror. Do yourself a favor and skip this. It really is meh at best. Again, acting is ok. Cinematography is ok. Its the bad writing and maybe directing that makes this a hard pass.