Bodies Bodies Bodies

Bodies Bodies Bodies

Starring Amandla Stenberg, Maria Bakalova, Myha'la Herrold, Chase Sui Wonders

Directed by Halina Reijn

When the pandemic started there was a game on Nintendo Switch that came out called "Animal Crossing," and it was a phenomenal success, where you get to take care of your own patch of land, invite other cute creatures to live there, and form your own society. By the end of the pandemic, the game that everyone was playing was a game called "Among Us" where a group of colored characters try to fix something while someone else among them is out to sabotage and kill everyone, creating suspicion and doubt. It's an interesting parallel as to how we went from enjoying planting gardens to planting seeds of mistrust, and lately it seems that everyone is at each others' throats for every little thing. Friends don't trust one another anymore, so I guess "Bodies Bodies Bodies" is a perfect film for a new generation - dropping buzz words while crafting seeds of doubt in a group of friends as a killer runs among them.

Sophie (Amandla Stenberg) and her new girlfriend Bee (Maria Bakalova) are going to a hurricane party thrown by her longtime friend David (Pete Davidson) at his mansion, along with David's girlfriend Emma (Chase Sui Wonders), their friends Jordan (Myha'la Herrold) and Alice (Rachel Sennott), and Rachel's much older boyfriend Greg (Lee Pace). Almost immediately you sense tensions between these supposed friends, most of which are pointed toward Sophie herself for not responding to the group chat that she was coming. As the night progresses, fractures in the friendships start to expand until Sophie calls everyone together to play Bodies Bodies Bodies, where one person is picked to be a killer and must sneak around the mansion "killing" other players in hopes of making it to the end, but when real bodies start dropping, the earlier fractures become canyons as each of the now-former friends turn on one another in hopes of finding the real killer and making it through the hurricane party alive.

"Bodies Bodies Bodies" (I'll refer to it as "BBB" from now on, not to be confused with "RRR") is your quintessential satirical horror comedy that pokes fun at the modern vernacular of today's society, using buzz words like "triggered," "gaslighting," "toxic," "you're silencing me," and such in a way that parodies the ridiculousness of these words that have been so overused now they're a laughing stock in society. More than that, "BBB" sheds light on how fickle and meaningless most friendships are nowadays, as it seems that everyone is everyone's best friend, despite knowing little to nothing about them, and really playing it off that they're friendly when instead they're talking behind their backs, proving that "keep your friends close, keep your enemies closer" now adds another caveat: "keep your friends close, keep your enemies closer, keep your frenemies the closest."

Essentially an Agatha Christie novel brought to live for modern times, "BBB" centers around a group of highly privileged youth (and one old man) who basically find themselves trapped in a sprawling mansion during a hurricane as one of them is out to kill everyone else. Mistrust builds and tensions rise as the real feelings of these "friends" come out, exposing long-gestating hatred, envy, and jealousy that's been bubbling under the surface probably since they all first met, leading to none of them being remotely enjoyable - which is the point of the film. This isn't a movie where there's a particular nice girl (with the possible exception of Bee, but even she had a darker side) you root for, but rather you root against everyone which adds to the fun of the film - the little fun there is to be had. As the bodies start piling up, the suspicions grow, but none of these people are close to Detective Poirot, and it seems that the real killer might get away scott free due to the complete ineptitude of the victims.

The cast is incredibly stacked and highly capable, with "The Hunger Games" star Amandla Stenberg shining through as Sophie, one of the rich girls who have secrets (as they all seemingly do), along with "Borat Subsequent MovieFilm" breakout star Maria Bakalova (who came thisclose to earning an Oscar nod) who played Bee with a blend of innocence and possible deceit. Pete Davidson's comedy shtick is more hit than miss. Still, "BBB" falls into the trap of making their characters one-dimensional in their personalities. Sophie is the outsider, Bee is the quiet one, Jordan is the leader, Emma is the silent type, Alice is the over-talker, David is the comedic relief, and Greg is the fish out of water. There wasn't a particular character that resonated with me longer than a few moments, as I often forgot their own names, and while they satirically pointed out the foibles of society, it does so in a lackluster way.

Maybe it's my cynical nature, but I didn't find this as entertaining or thought-provoking as many other people have, which has happened before with films like "The Invisible Man" and "The Black Phone" - films generally most people loved, but I didn't like. It's not because of the story, since it really delivered unique characters and their interwoven animosities were a major selling point (especially one particular scene when they're all arguing in the living room), it's not because of the concept (as I especially love whodunit films), but rather it's because of the boredom the movie brings. At a little over ninety minutes, it felt like it dragged on, especially in the middle, as the characters ran around the house and yells at one another over and over again. Most of the film is shot in the dark, so it's hard to see what's happening around them, and seeing someone hiding behind a couch covering their mouth for a few minutes isn't as entertaining as it sounds. It's not bad, but nowhere near as praiseworthy as other critics are giving it.

The Score: B+