Send Help
Review by Ryan Michael Painter
In the fast-paced environment of a Fortune 500 business, Linda Liddle’s disheveled appearance allows her to be easily underestimated. So, when she is passed up for a promotion in favor of a clueless, male colleague, Linda is faced with accepting the embarrassment or doubling down by working twice as hard as everyone around her to prove her worth.
I’m a lot like Linda. I’ve never excelled at office politics.
**NOTE: You can read Ryan’s review below, then listen or watch as he and Mark discuss the film further. Remember, you can listen to all our discussions of this and every other movie directly over on ACAST. Stay tuned.**
113 Minutes, Rated R
Written by Damian Shannon & Mark Swift
Directed by Sam Raimi
Synopsis:
Two colleagues become stranded on a deserted island, the only survivors of a plane crash. On the island, they must overcome past grievances and work together to survive, but ultimately, it’s an unsettling, darkly humorous battle of wills and wits to make it out alive.
In her spare time, Linda talks to her pet bird and prepares to compete in the next season of Survivor. She’ll probably never be cast, deep inside she might know this. Still, she lives with a sense of determination that is as amiable as it is futile.
When fate places her and her unappreciative boss on an island with little hope of rescue, Linda looks to play her advantage.
Director Sam Raimi made a name for himself with the splatter and camp of the original Evil Dead films in the 1980s and then established the groundwork for comic book movies with his Spider-Man trilogy in the early ‘00s. His best work comes when he’s simply allowed to work without restriction.
True to form, Send Help works best when it goes to extremes. Sadly, after a promising start, the film is content to go nowhere. There are moments where Raimi reminds us that he’s behind the camera, but overall Send Help is bland, poorly paced, reluctant to be sinister, and tension free. Linda feels scatterbrained when she should be calculated.
It’s not a horror film. It’s not a thriller. It’s not much of anything. Squandered potential abounds.
Send Help is in theaters January 30 and stars Rachel McAdams and Dylan O’Brien.
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