There is a lesson about narrative tricks and overuse in here, and I think many could learn from it. Fool the audience once, that's impressive, fool them twice and you begin to push the boundaries of "clever" and tread into the realm of mild annoyance. By the third time, it's so telegraphed and predictable that you've lost all spark and also end up dulling the sharpness (heh) of the initial uses of the technique. Sharper does exactly this, and by the final hoodwink it's so obvious what it's doing that it collapses the house of cards they've built to this point. Julianne Moore's character claims to be a professional conwoman, but can't seem to see one of the most telegraphed plays in the whole movie right before her eyes? All integrity is lost, and the wrap up feels rushed and unsatisfying.
What begins as a slick, contemporary social-heist-thriller (what a mouthful) quickly devolves into a very predictable romp that doesn't feel satisyfing under the weight of the first two acts. Not a bad film by any means, but doesn't sort out the threads in the final act to jump to the 7 or 8 out of 10 territory. Fair, but could have been so much more.
This movie was a trip! It had me guessing the entire way through. I wasn’t too much of a fan how they did each of the character backgrounds but I get how it played into the overall story. The final act was a good one and had me saying, hell yeah!
Good actors and vibe but way too predictable, in my opinion.
I had guessed that Sandra and Tom had allied straight from the beginning though, so at least that part had some interesting aspects.
What I still don't get is why Madeline called the police on Max. She risked that Max would reveal her identity in revenge, exactly as she feared later in case of Sandra.
So really not the best story.
I had no idea this movie existed until I stumbled across it on Apple TV. The cast looked incredible and I immediately had to turn it on. I had no idea of the plot or genre, but I was invested in checking out the movie. It was good, but not too special. It is well acted and there are various points in the script that was engaging, but I couldn't help but feel it moved too slow. It felt like a knock-off "Gone Girl" (I say that lovingly, as I love "Gone Girl"). In the end, I ultimately think it ended a smidge messy.
Further point- I watched this having no idea it was A24, and many aspects suddenly make way more sense in how various aspects of the story are told to the audience. Not my favorite A24, but as I think with many of their movies, they will hit a specific type of viewer that will really love it.
Rating: 2.5/5 - 7/10 - Worth Watching
Extraordinary, from the beginning to the end you will keep aware that something big will happen. Apple you rock it again
Plot after plot and amazing story.. Well done Apple.
Good build up. Too obvious twistaroo. Way too smug wrap up. 2/3 is a solid 7, last 1/3 a tired 5. I guess a weak 6 is fair then.
Solid start to middle. Predictable third act. Tumblr worthy bookshop
Kind of predictable, kind of enjoyable.
9/10 super
It almost made it to 10/10 but parts of the ending lost it that extra point….
But with that said this is a great movie, some might find it slow and might not like the timeline moving around.
It basically breaks down into a number of self contained chapters which come together to tell an overall storyline, with each chapter becoming more complex and clever.
Is it predictable????
In some cases yes, but it always gives you a little twist with each chapter, sadly the final part is to predictably and you can see most of the plot line coming…..
I think if the final part had been played out without the full hustle story it would have sat better for me….
Give it a watch well worth it and probably different to what you think it’s going to be….
This is the text I sent to my girlfriend while watching this.
""Oh shit Sebastian Stan just whipped it out in front of his mom in this movie""ù
I hate it when I can correctly guessed the plot, but this movie didn't give me a chance :clap: good job
And the overall winner is... Tom.
It was good till the last 10 mins. Then the plot just fell apart.
Predictability blunts the edges of this familar thriller.
The first half of the movie was actually good then quickly became boring.
I'm experiencing some cognitive dissonance with this one. Good acting, great soundtrack and glossy high production directing, yet it felt lacking on the whole. It's like they watched better movies like Confidence and made a lesser version. Everything is predictable, but it's still significantly better than most direct to streaming movies. I liked the setups, but it felt like a double cross 101 class. Therefore, it gets a 6.4. The score I give out the most for vanilla, but almost there quality.
This was such a neat little mystery/thriller! I love the way that the story is told - I wish more movies took chances like that. I should have seen the ending coming but I did not (it pains me to admit this).
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Predictable to the bone. Each next twist 1up's the previous one to the point where final act is just simply ridiculously stupid.
Great Movie with amazing plot twists without a doubt, this movie is one of the best movies of 2023
Excellent from start to finish. Plenty of twists along the way.
10/10
It was going really good until the plane...
Madeleine os top here and she wouldn't figure this out before? Really? Who wrote this ending? Dumb person...
Amazing movie. The story keeps you guessing until the very end. The performances were great and I especially loved the cinematography and the music.
last 1/4 part is just awful.
The first half of the movie was pretty good, but then it had way too many twists, to the point, where everything became predictable. By the end, you can see what's coming, no matter how ridiculous it was.
I find it very hard to believe that someone with that much money didn’t do a massive background check on anyone they dated - especially before they married them.
DON’T WATCH THE TRAILER! It ruins half the movie.
What a stupid movie, couldn't' Madeline still organise a hit on Tom since she's still the Trustee.. the actors playing Sam and Sandre had no chemistry.
Fantastic movie. Great plot! Almost a 10 :star:
Reminds me of the anime "The Great Pretender"
Loved everything in this movie.
At first I was a bit disappointed that my favourite character wasn‘t the main character and disappeared for a while, but it was worth waiting for her return.
A pretty good movie and Julieanne Moore rocks it
Very satisfying ending to a decent story. Thank you, Apple!
Shout by ragreynoldsVIP 7BlockedParent2023-02-17T19:13:23Z
I was really enjoying this until the final act. Julianne Moore is fantastic throughout this entire film, and I thought all of the characters worked well on-screen together in the various dynamics. I thought that all of the cons were pretty predictable, yet I was still interested and entertained. However, that changed in the final act, and I felt that the final act started to go a bit overboard with the whole thing, and the final con was simply too much and lacked believability.
Still, I enjoyed the film and would recommend it.