The movie is about a typical, dysfunctional upper-middle class family who has a guest cottage behind their house to rent out. The father is a piano teacher (and apparently a really good one, judging by the size of the property they own) and the step-mother is a former student who is loathed by the children. When their renter falls through, the family is in a rush to get a new person into their back cottage. And well, Robert seems like a nice guy (cause come on, it's David Arquette).
He's sensitive and quiet, he writes romance novels because he wants to give women a beautiful escape from their lives. he comes off as charming and harmless. But of course he's not. He's every guy your female friend has ever says she just feels uncomfortable around. He's pushy in the faux-friendly NiceGuy™ way. His carefully calculated pushes into your personal space are something you wanted. He's just trying to be friendly.
The step-mom quickly figures this out about him, and to his credit the father trusts her, and says they'll kick him out if he makes her uncomfortable. And he does. Swimming naked in the pool, staring at the teenage girls in the house far too long, making comments on their clothing choices, touching the family baby without permission... he obviously lacks respect for women.
I don't want to give away the twist of the movie, but lets just say that vulnerable young girls, especially those who have experienced trauma and have difficult home lives, can become attracted to the dark charisma of sociopaths.
While at times the film is formulaic, and the ending is uneven, I still appreciated it's exploration of the dangers of the charismatic pushy handsome stranger.
______________________________________________________________
Entertaining 3/5 Intelligent 3/5 Unsettling 3/5Scary 2/5 Gory 1/5 Funny 0/5 Artistic 2/5
Representation of Minorities 0/5 Representation of Women 3/5
______________________________________________________________
No comments:
Post a Comment