Someone once said in the movies, “Love means never having to apologize.” This made absolutely no sense in 1970, but it makes even less sense now. Apologizing has become very common in recent decades.
So at the beginning of Zoe Kravitz’s “Blink Twice,” when her tech-mogul protagonist, Slater King, sits down on the TV couch and mumbles “I’m sorry” for some unexplained offense, it’s a familiar scene. Pick your offender, pick your year: The famous person issues a formal apology, goes off the grid for a while and returns, presumably forgiven. We’ve seen it all before.
Not that it isn’t fun to watch here — especially because Channing Tatum is so charming and engaging in the role. “Blink Twice” is a big change for him as an actor and a big one for his life partner Kravitz, who is the director and co-writer of this stylish, ambitious, buzz-worthy film that aspires to be a #MeToo-era thriller with echoes of the gender-themed “Get Out” or “Promising Young Woman.”
And Kravitz nearly pulls it off. Aided by a terrific cast, she offers supremely confident, highly entertaining filmmaking, until everything seems to be falling apart in a mess of porous storytelling. It’s not the sudden intrusion of gore that’s the issue – it’s a horror movie, hey. It’s the sudden departure from logic. You probably won’t be able to turn away – but, unlike the aforementioned films by Jordan Peele or Emerald Fennell, you won’t necessarily be able to explain what you just saw.
But it’s definitely fun, until it’s not fun – which is a very apt way to describe Frida’s experience. A cocktail waitress who designs nail art, Frida lives in a seedy apartment with roommate Jess. When the two get a job waitressing at a fundraiser, they cleverly plan to wear slinky dresses to the beach so they can mingle with the wealthy guests.
It turns out it’s a fundraiser for Slater’s firm, and when Frieda falls, the billionaire himself helps her up. He introduces her to his friends, and soon, Frieda and Jess can’t believe their luck – they’re aboard Slater’s plane, headed to his very own fantasy island.
The water sparkles. The champagne sparkles, too. Frieda and Jess’s closets are filled with stylish white resort dresses, which match the outfits provided to the other female guests: the flamboyant and/or drunken Camilla and Heather, and the hard-nosed, sharp-elbowed Sarah, who has her eye on Slater and therefore draws daggers for Frieda.
The food, prepared by Slater’s friend Cody, is impeccable. The alcohol is plentiful, the sheets are soft, and so are the drugs – which, according to Slater, must be used “with intent,” whatever that means. The days are long, the nights are longer, and soon no one knows what day it is.
But why is that? Well, Stacy, Slater’s nerdy assistant – played by Geena Davis in a fun but somewhat underused role – confiscated all the phones as soon as she arrived. But there seems to be something deeper at play. We’re trying to avoid spoilers, but as Jess says to Frieda, “Something’s wrong with this place.”
Looking at the strangely horrified faces of the resort staff, it’s easy to figure out that they’re definitely hiding something. Also: Why is there dirt under Frida’s nails? And what happened to the red stain on her dress? Strange things are happening.
But Frieda is still upset that Jess is backing out. They’re on a beautiful island, and someone important is trying to court her. “For the first time in my life I’m here and I’m not invisible, so please,” she warns her friend.
And so the pretense continues — always the pretense of having a good time in the Instagram era. “Are you having a good time?” Slater asks more than once. “Yes!” Frieda replies, but she grows less confident as time goes on.
And just when everything has devolved into utter, bloody chaos, someone still ominously suggests: “There’s a version of this in which we’re all having a good time.”
There’s a dark undercurrent here. Kravitz has said that women are always expected to smile, play games, pretend they’re having a good time — and, she says, to “forget” the bad things. And so forgetting is a key element of her film, which we won’t spoil.
Anyway, there’s definitely a version of Kravitz’s film that we’re all having a lot of fun with – in fact, most of it. She just needs to stick the landing. We’ll all be eager to see what happens next.
The film “Blink Twice,” released by Amazon/MGM, is rated R by the Motion Picture Association for “violent content, sexual assault, drug use and language throughout the film, and some sexual references.” Duration: 103 minutes. Two and a half stars out of four.
This article is generated from an automated news agency feed without any modifications to the text.
