Next Exit

... which is never make a promise to the audience that you can't deliver on. The first 3 minutes of this film sets up a premise so outrageously compelling that it would not surprise me if another film-maker grabs it and makes a proper movie about it down the road. However, and this is the point, Mali Elfman, the first-time Director of Next Exit, does nothing with it. Just sort of leaves it hanging, a constant reminder for the audience of what this movie could have been. That said, this is a not-bad road movie, and a so-so rom-com, but any attempt to call this science fiction is stretching it. The kind of film where, if you were flying NY to London, you might get hooked somewhere over the Atlantic. Maybe. And, oh yeah. Elfman has this really weird talent for repeatedly miscasting former model Karen Gillan (of Dr Who fame). Elfman produced THE PARTY IS JUST BEGINNING, 2018, where Gillan was so off-character it seemed as though she was deliberately trying to implode her own career. In this film, she is barely recognizable. ((Designated "IMDb Top Reviewer." Please check out my list "167+ Nearly-Perfect Movies (with the occasional Anime or TV miniseries) you can/should see again and again (1932 to the present))

No pun intended - yes the two main actors played key roles in a Mike Flannigan show. Actually the male lead was also quite impactful in Midnight Mass - and will be in the next show of Flannigan too. So no surprise he got thanked in the credits.

Maybe because the two seem very comfortable with each other. And when I say that, I don't mean they hit it off as characters, but their chemistry is really something to behold. A road movie can get boring or stall at some point. I never felt that there was a chance of that happening here.

And that is a testament to the movie, script, director but also the actors of course. There are episodes on the road and there is the goal they want to reach. The goal that includes Karen Gillian - another collaborator from Flannigans past (Oculus, highly recommended), though you may know her from the MCU as Nebula.

But again the main focus is the duo and their journey. The dialog feels fresh and real - the characters while flawed and on a self destructive trip do connect with the viewer. Really well made and while it may not really answer questions about after life (or maybe it does for you?), it is more than worth a watch.

Do not expect aliens, monsters, scientific theories or thrilling action scenes. Yes, the movie begins with a wonderful sci-fi premise - similar to those in Kurt Vonnegut tales - that life after death is real (for some people), but this is not a ghost thriller. However, like all great sci-fi from Frankenstein to The Thing to Hellboy to Avatar, this movie explores the issues of "the nature of human life' and "what is it that haunts us." It is a slow burn, ok, but it fills the slow spaces with realistic, natural humor. The acting is superb. The directing and script are compelling. The pay-off at the end is satisfying. You don't even need the "sci-fi premise," because everyday my true-believer Christian friends try to convince me that the afterlife is real. So, I ask ... why not die and move on to "the better place?" I enjoyed seeing these characters trying to explore their reasons for dying and their reasons for living. I can't give it a 7, but it deserves more than a 6. I was pleasantly surprised and impressed by this one.

Interesting premise that I can't recall being done before. Being a person who had wanted to "exit" a good portion of my earlier life, I liked how this was approached and the main character's point of view. Believable. But that's not all. There's other layers to this story and I will be watching this movie again to focus more on those.

It brought in some interesting elements/concepts. Acting was excellent, again believable. This could have gone in a couple other directions and I kind of wish it did, but all in all it was satisfying and so was the ending.

Required minimum characters is 600. Why so many? Ok, I was expecting something different from the opening scenes and was hoping it was going in that direction but it didn't.

I came to mark this movie as viewed, when I read the reviews. Since I use other's reviews here to decide if I'm going to watch something, I feel like the current reviews paint a much to negative view of it.

The 2 lowest scores CLEARLY didn't get the movie since both give examples that are easily explained if you paid attention, but since I'm trying to do this without spoilers, you'll just have to trust me. If your idea of sci-fi is only Star Trek, you are going to have a bad time.

Technically this is sci-fi but only as an flimsy excuse for a road movie. What you get is excellent dialogue and acting with a couple charming character arcs and a healthy dose of dark humor.

It doesn't back away from the very heavy subjects but always does it so the humor and drama balance each other out. So it isn't a comedy but you'll probably won't feel like suicide afterwards either.

I would have given it a solid 7 but the ending was way to cliché and so predictable.

Don't expect a story, a mystery, spooky supernatural stuff or anything like that. This is just a movie about two souls meeting when they are going through a phase at the end of their 20's ( quarter life crisis )