Writer(s): Angela Burt-Murray
Starring: Vicky Jeudy, Tosin Morohunfola, Marc Grapey, and Renelle Nicole
Holy hell, who would have seen this coming? I mean, I guess it was bound to
happen at some point, coming from a studio that seems to release boatloads of movies every week, but it's still shocking: MarVista has accidentally produced a
good movie! And, true to their form, they slap the most banal name on it that they could muster: Friend Request (also the name of another by-the-numbers
“thriller” from 2016). Well, as usual, the “good” here is
relative to other movies in their canon, as it’s still little more
than a basic thriller, but it’s executed exceptionally well.
Malik is a successful lawyer who has
aspirations of becoming a DA. He’s also married to his beautiful
wife, Michelle, with whom they share a child, and who also has dreams
of her own: she wants to open a catering business (it’s always
a catering business). Things seem to be going well for the
family—he’s on the fast track to getting a promotion that can put
him another step closer to his ultimate goal; she gets her first
catering job and blows people away—when a message comes through on
Friendergram (yes, that’s what it’s really called). It’s from
Rayna, Malik's high school sweetheart, who up and left him when he
refused to follow her to college, and hasn't contacted him since.
Although it’s been years, Malik has
never forgotten about her, and is happy to learn she will be at an upcoming reunion of some sort with her husband, as he will be with his wife. Well, a sudden
catering job eliminates Michelle from the picture, at which point
Rayna randomly informs him, through Friendergram, that her husband
can’t make it. Left to battle his wills all alone—but feeling
like he still has to go since he's receiving an award (what reunion
gives out awards?)--the two pick up where their relationship left off, spending the night catching up, before he follows her to her hotel room. He apparently has every intention of leaving, but ends waking up in her hotel room the following morning, with no
recollection of what went down. One thing's for certain: it ain't
good.
Malik tries being honest with Rayna
upfront, informing her that he wants no part of a life with her, but
Rayna won’t take no for an answer, and before long, she’s firmly
embedding herself into his life…any way she can (remember
Michelle’s catering business…?) And before long, the consequences
of his actions have far-reaching implications beyond anything he ever
would have expected (remember that job promotion he’s virtually
guaranteed…?) as the cunniving femme fatale knows how to play
dirty...
There are some poor writing/character
decisions (if he didn't plan to sleep with her, why did he go all the
way to her apartment to begin with?), and many of the plot points are
well-tread in similar stalking tales (especially Rayna's overly
seductive behavior), but the occasional mistake is more than covered
by surprisingly B+/A- list acting, and a trail of (mostly) believable
twists and turns that caught us off guard more than once, leading up
to an ending that refreshingly isn’t clearly foreshadowed at any
point.
And while that mysterious ending isn’t
great—it’s a little too clean and happy for my tastes—there’s
no denying that this is one of Marvista’s finest 90 minutes, and a
brief glimpse of what the studio is capable of when all of the pieces
accidentally fall into place.
STRAY OBSERVATIONS
- This is one of MarVista's first releases of 2020, and it sets an impossibly high bar for the rest of the year. Are they finally growing up? Or have they reached their peak two weeks into the new year? Only time will tell....
- Seriously, how did they land this cast?
- They still haven't changed their trailer tactics: the one below reveals the entire movie in two-and-a-half minutes. Don't watch it if you plan on seeing it!
- This is the same writing/directing team from Holiday Heist, which we also found to be above-average. Keep it up, Bobb-Burt Murray!
RATING: 8.5/10
TRAILER (careful, it reveals everything)
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