☆☆☆
The opening half-hour of Ready or Not is so deliciously pitch-perfect that it seems impossible to sustain such a balance of black comedy, anxiety and satire. It tries, and for a very long time, it almost wins at its own game.
The idea is decidedly weird: Grace (Samara Weaving) marries the heir to the fortune of a worldwide board-game dynasty, most of whom live in a grand old gothic manor filled with secret passages and hidden doors. There's just one catch -- on their wedding night, new members of the family have to play a game with the others. Most options are benign ("Old Maid," anyone?) but one, hide and seek, is deadly. Guess which one she chooses?
She's got to stay hidden and alive between midnight and dawn, or else the lethal consequences of a long-dreaded curse will befall the family. It's a daffy setup, and when it takes the story purely at face value, it's bloody (literally) fun. Its satirical sendup of wealth, family relations, marital strife, and (yes) politics is giddy and effective -- while it stays in the background.
But as the screenplay by Guy Busick and Ryan Murphy begins running out of steam, a complex "mythology" comes to the fore and becomes distracting. Grace and the audience should never fully understand why the game is happening, for this to be a dastardly little chiller. As more and more is explained, Ready or Not becomes slightly less fun and its ultra-violence moves from devious to disturbing.
Viewed AMC Burbank 16 -- Aug. 24, 2019
1945
The idea is decidedly weird: Grace (Samara Weaving) marries the heir to the fortune of a worldwide board-game dynasty, most of whom live in a grand old gothic manor filled with secret passages and hidden doors. There's just one catch -- on their wedding night, new members of the family have to play a game with the others. Most options are benign ("Old Maid," anyone?) but one, hide and seek, is deadly. Guess which one she chooses?
She's got to stay hidden and alive between midnight and dawn, or else the lethal consequences of a long-dreaded curse will befall the family. It's a daffy setup, and when it takes the story purely at face value, it's bloody (literally) fun. Its satirical sendup of wealth, family relations, marital strife, and (yes) politics is giddy and effective -- while it stays in the background.
But as the screenplay by Guy Busick and Ryan Murphy begins running out of steam, a complex "mythology" comes to the fore and becomes distracting. Grace and the audience should never fully understand why the game is happening, for this to be a dastardly little chiller. As more and more is explained, Ready or Not becomes slightly less fun and its ultra-violence moves from devious to disturbing.
Viewed AMC Burbank 16 -- Aug. 24, 2019
1945
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