Sooo, if you don’t want to know what the entire plot and movie is about you probably shouldn’t watch the trailer. Heck, you probably shouldn’t even look at the movie poster but oops (here it is). This review is also going to be all spoilers so if you want to waste your time watching this movie or have already wasted your time watching the movie, feel free to read on.
I gotta say, I don’t think that this was the strongest comeback for Brenda Song, but luckily it’s Netflix and there was enough hype about it that people have been watching (like Birdbox, oh God- minus the funny meme content). Brenda Song plays the female lead of Jennifer and Mike Vogel plays the male lead of Russell Williams. From the opening scene, Jennifer is seen at a rest stop trying to make a call in a telephone box.
From the get-go here are my “I’m docking off points” pointers:
- Why did she get out of the car? Did she run out of gas? She has a higher chance of getting away if she just kept driving to a police station, etc.
- She proceeds to run away, giving her stalker time to tie the back end of her car to the front of their car
- Jennifer runs back to the car after being chased and hiding in the bathroom stall, only to repeatedly have to start her car (ummm, her car was already started? Did she have to re-start it?) Also, how damn cliche of her car to stop working as she’s trying to get away
- I don’t know why she thought she could get away when there was another car parked behind her and she would have had to drive forward (towards the person trying to kill her) and around to escape- which we found out she can’t because her car is hooked
- And of course then she runs out and gets hit by another car which makes her lose her memory and ends up in the hospital. Wait, is this a K-drama?
At first I was confused. “Was Russell counting on her losing her memory?” I thought. But towards the end of the movie when his real identity is revealed (as a psycho and obsessive office co-worker by the name of Ryan Gaerity) he admits to Jennifer that he was planning to kill her. However, this changed when he realized Jennifer had lost her memory. He believed he was “given a chance” to be with her and essentially play as her husband.
Another thing I didn’t understand is why she didn’t try to contact any other friends or family. Surely she remembers other people in her life other than her parents? Yes, Russell played off being her husband and maybe it’s just me but I wouldn’t feel comfortable going home with someone I don’t remember.
I kind of forget where she starts to find things fishy. Maybe the triggers and mini flashbacks, as well as Russell suspiciously being out in the backyard in the middle of the night.
- 6. Russell’s (Ryan’s) photoshop work was on point, what the hell? When did he have the time to learn all this? Did he pay someone to photoshop all the photos? And if he did hire someone, did they just not ask any questions?
- 7. My OCD kicked in with the fact that he didn’t rename some of his images and it was just a long line of numbers (I know I’m being knit picky here, but come on!)
- 8. The second half of the movie was just Jennifer running around the house trying to get away only to be recaptured multiple times and escape again which I found to be somewhat annoying.
- 9. When Detective Frank Page went to the house to investigate, how did he realize right away that the sign was covered with a new one? Did he just so happen to notice the corner peeling in the corner? Not a flop, but not something I would have thought of.
- 10. I wasn’t completely feeling the chemistry between Jennifer and the real Russell. Yes, there was a scene she was looking at old video clips of them on her old(?) phone, and her flashbacks of their wedding and them having sex… but it didn’t make me that emotional.
- 11. The flashback sex scene of what implied Russell eating her out. LOL. I think it was supposed to be sexy but it was cringe for me. Flop.
Overall I’d give this movie a 2/5. It was too predictable and the trailer gave away the whole plot. I also wasn’t impressed by the acting, not that it was terrible. Again, I gave the score that I did for the main points I discussed above.
What did you think of the movie and what’s your personal rating?
From Maylea 