Year: 2021
Director: Martin Guigui
Screenplay: Sherry Klein
Starring: Todd Grinnell, Mena Suvari, Kristin Bauer van
Straten
Synopsis is here:
Every so often, a movie will have me thinking about Pauline
Kael’s seminal essay about appreciating great trash. Watching Paradise Cove,
always makes me wonder what she would think of a film like this or the many
similar features like it. These off the beaten track thrillers which love to
highlight their gaudy wares at the expense of logical plot.
This is the sort of Yuppies-in-hell type of movie that does
not seem to be much of. Inequality is through the roof. People buy homes less
to live but to profit from. Late-stage capitalism has left many in despair. It
is the perfect time to update Pacific Heights (1990). Paradise Cove holds none
of the financial muscle of John Schlesinger’s movie, but it should not need to.
What Paradise Cove has going for it is relevancy. Its dog-eat-dog story brings
a certain amount of connectivity to an audience. To have such a topic thrown
into such an over-the-top thriller is usually enjoyable.
That said, Paradise Cove is seriously lacking in the type of
craftsmanship which could turn it into an enjoyable pulp smothered tale. It is
a film which lacks the guts or coherence to be as interesting as it could have
been. Hampered by poor pacing, cardboard flat performances, and a patchy
narrative which needed to be tidied up in the pre-production stage it is a film
which far too happily enjoys its contrivance. Better films can often have its
audience asking the same questions that one may do here. But Paradise Cove is
deficient in having the ability to distract its audience. It would perhaps be
beneficial if the film had characters who worth investing in.
Watching a young couple being terrorised by a disturbed, homeless women could be an intriguing premise if the screenplay cared about any of the people at play. However, Paradise Cove is a place where every person is annoyingly uncompelling and profoundly unsympathetic. A couple who seems uninterested in the memories within the house they cannot wait to flip. They go up against a middle-aged vagrant, whose tragic backstory never feels strong enough to tolerate her causal slip into needless violence. The film’s habit of playing fast and loose with plot strands, along with some tone-deaf characterisation ensures that none of these characters provides empathy.
The annoying thing is when you have the likes of Mena Suvari
in the casting roster, you should allow her to be more than a shrill,
hysterical wife. It is a role with no agency or sympathy and some of the most
egregious pieces of dialogue. So much of what this character says makes
whatever plight this couple may have unappealing. Kristin Bauer van Straten has
a better time with things. Her performance as a jilted housewife is at one
which knows what type of movie this could have been.
Unfortunately, this is not about what the film could have
been, but what the film is. Folks like me may get a kick out of the unintentionally
humorous set pieces and plot points that seemingly go nowhere (that shower
sequence does what for the film exactly?). However, for those who are looking
for a thriller with more…well thrill, it may be worth heading elsewhere.
