Windfall: Review

 

Windfall, directed by Charlie McDowell, is an Alfred Hitchcock style thriller that moves slow at first but picks up speed late and eventually loses control.

 It stars Jason Segel, Lily Collins and Jesse Plemons. Segal plays a thief who breaks into the vacation home of a tech billionaire (Plemons). In the course of looking for valuables in the house he hears the couple arriving and panics. Realizing he can’t get out without them knowing it, he takes them as hostages. He manages to hold them in a sauna with junk in front of the door while he bolts for his car. He spots a camera on the tree just as he is leaving and nervously goes back to the property and takes them hostage again.

The first thing I noticed was the look of the film. The opening shot shows an empty back porch with billowing curtains. The home is a 60’s ranch style that helps with the Hitchcock feel. Ominous music plays softly while the opening credits roll. The movie doesn’t assign any of the characters names, only positions. Plemons is known as CEO, Collins is Wife and Segel is just Nobody. This is the first clue that director Charlie McDowell was going for a kind of social commentary. Each person represents a class.

From the first scene it’s clear that Nobody intended to make a full day of robbing the estate. He’s seen sipping orange juice and staring off into the back property. He throws the glass when done and heads inside to rummage through the drawers. Nobody is a man enjoying the wealth all around him but despising it just the same, like an imposter. He’s also comfortable hanging out. He’s caught off guard by the arrival of the wealthy couple, which I interpreted as someone familiar with CEO’s schedule. He didn’t expect anyone to be home, but why?

Nobody’s diminishing sense of control matches the pace of the film. He’s on top of the world for a while but events quickly go beyond his reach.

 The first and second acts are slow moving and funny, a comedy of errors. The third act is quite tense as incidents threaten to turn the hostage situation into violence.

The best plan Nobody can come up with is to take enough money from the couple to disappear. CEO and Wife convince Nobody to take $500,000 because $150,000 isn’t enough to escape and start over. But they have to wait overnight for the money to arrive. This means they need to spend time together. Nobody can’t leave them alone or risk having them run off so he stays with them.

 Jason Segel is not suited for this role. He’s too likeable and boyish. He’s ill at ease with a gun and pouts when the couple doesn’t listen to him. He constantly reminds the couple that he doesn’t want to hurt anyone but he will if he has too. Somehow we just don’t believe it.

I have a few complaints about the movie but mostly praise. If this is social commentary we need a little more on why Nobody decided to break in and pretend to be a billionaire for at least a few hours. He’s presumable the main character and we have more questions about him than the other two characters. There is a gardener that makes an appearance for a short while helping to heighten the tension among the hostages. But primarily it’s only the 3. I didn’t feel much sympathy for Nobody and I kept wondering ‘Am I supposed to?’

CEO and wife play their parts brilliantly. We feel a tension between them that wasn’t initially there. As hostages we begin to see cracks in their ideal relationship. Given CEOs vast wealth and condescending attitude we don’t like him either. We’re sympathetic to Wife because of the way he treats her, telling her to ‘get close’ to Nobody to find out his plans. But it’s clear she traded whatever life she had for riches and fame. Her discomfort with CEO isn’t exactly a reason for us to root for her. Most marriages have elements of unhappiness.

Every character (or class) is out for their own self-interest, each one has a different idea of how to get there.

The transition from comedy to thriller seems to happen all at once, in the last 10 minutes. It’s too severe. I won’t call the finish a surprise as much as a jolt. The development of the characters doesn’t warrant it. Does McDowell want us to understand Nobody’s motivations even a little? If there is a hole in the story it’s Segel’s appropriately named Nobody. Maybe he isn’t the protagonist at all but the pretext to shake this marriage of convenience to its core.

I’m a sucker for simple stories about relationships. This one will work nicely as a play. It’s not Rear Window but it’s intriguing and holds interest on its own. I recommend.