The Gift (2015)


The Gift (2015)

The_Gift_2015_Film_Poster1Jason Bateman, Rebecca Hall, and Joel Edgerton team up in this late summer creepy thriller. This movie is also directed by Edgerton in his first effort as such.  Simon (Bateman) and Robyn (Hall) are a cute yuppie couple recently transplanted from Chicago. Robyn is getting over a recent miscarriage and Simon is taking on a new job for a corporate security company. The pair buy a large home on LA’s east side as Simon settles into his new job. On a shopping trip, they bump into an old classmate (Simon grew up in the area), Gordo, who seems a little unusual but the couple exchange numbers. Before they can actually meet up as a natural course, Gordo leaves a present on their doorstep.They meet up for dinner soon after but the strangeness of Gordo and his relationship to Simon is only beginning to unfold.

The-Gift-Trailer

As you might expect in a movie of this nature, Simon is more than he seems and the happy yuppie couple both harbor darker elements in their lives. Bateman, Hall, and Edgerton all give great performances. The story does a pretty good job of remaining fairly plausible. One is only mildly perplexed by Simon’s willingness to have anything to do with Gordo given history.

gift 2

This movie could have easily become a movie that made you groan. There were a couple of cheap scares in the movie. I am not a big fan of the long dark hallway and a stupid person creeping up the middle scared only to be surprised by “x”. However, the movie works because Edgerton manages to keep the script and they people in check just when you think they are going to go full-bore nuts. It ends up being a creepy thriller about mistakes, dark pasts, and impulsive/repulsive reactions to what life deals us.

I enjoyed this movie than I expected to.

B

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