First the story was that Pete Davidson and Kim Kardashian broke up. That was soon followed by reports that Pete is in therapy because of the threats her ex, Kanye West, made against him. After visiting his shrink, he should talk to his agent, if these are the scripts he left SNL for.
The movie starts with two young women making out, because…I dunno. Perhaps they thought that would be provocative. Sophie (Amandla Stenberg) wants to bring Bee (Maria Bakalova of Borat fame), the newBee, to party at a mansion with her friend group. I’m not sure why Sophie would think this new relationship should be subjected to this group of Gen Z losers. Surely she’s smart enough to know things will go south. I don’t imagine she thought bodies, bodies, bodies would pile up, but she at least knew that David (Pete Davidson) was a jerk. And, as he’s in the swimming pool “welcoming” them, we see that immediately (what we don’t see are his tattoos, which is odd because…they would totally fit this character; but I digress).
Since a lot of the friends dated each other, jealousies spring up. There’s also a storm a brewin’ (literally and figuratively), so they take cover inside. When the power goes out, they decide to play a game. It’s called “Bodies, bodies, bodies” and everyone draws a piece of paper. If you have an X, you’re the killer, and you have to find people, and one pretends to be dead. Guess what? Someone takes the game a little too seriously, and bodies start piling up. These are familiar tropes, but they could work for a dark comedy that’s a bit of a slasher flick. It was promising that it comes from A24, which are usually reliable for good, quirky films.
Emma (Chase Sui Wonders) is David’s girlfriend, I think. They were acting weird. Maybe they just hook up. Another character hooked up with a 40-year-old dude from Tinder (Lee Pace). I’m not sure why he’d agree to go hang out with a bunch of annoying 20-year-olds. Especially after David slaps him hard in the face. These people are so annoying as they drink and do drugs, and they don’t even seem like real characters. They just seem like folks you hope get murdered. Listening to them pontificate on the meaning of gaslighting, or their many other gripes, is exhausting. These are just a bunch of dysfunctional d-bags.
This is directed by Dutch filmmaker and actress Halina Reijn (Valkyrie). She utilizes her location okay, wandering through the dark hallways with iPhone lighting (giving it a Blair Witch Project vibe at times). She gave us a film that she probably wanted to be a Clue/Knives Out for the younger set. And it’s not that I’m some old fogey who can’t appreciate hipsters. I remember 10 years ago (when I was in my 40s), bringing a retired lawyer in her 70s, to see a screening of Project X. It didn’t get the best reviews, and it was about teenagers throwing a party that got out of control (for example, someone took a flamethrower to cars on the street, and another partygoer put a little person in an oven). We both laughed the entire time. It was a blast. This movie though, was so bad, my wife and I left with about 20 minutes to go. We didn’t even care who the killer was.
0 stars.