Send Help ~ Review

By: [email protected] on
There’s nothing quite like a delightfully unhinged Sam Raimi movie to chase away the late January, early February winter doldrums. Raimi is possibly one of the most singular filmmakers working today, and lately, he has felt semi-stuck in studio product. Not that Dr. Strange and the Multiverse of Madness was a bad film, but it felt like Raimi’s distinctive voice had been flattened out by the MCU machine. It’s high time that Raimi got back to his roots, making over-the-top roller coaster rides with the social messaging of a Frank Capra film…you know, if Jimmy Stewart gouged out somebody’s eye in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.
 
Linda Liddle (Rachel McAdams) is a mousy and awkward employee of a large corporation. Specifically, she’s a corporate strategist who has a good head for numbers but struggles with people skills. Her head for numbers has put her on track towards Vice President of the company, but the new boss, nepo-baby douche bag Bradley (Dylan O’Brien), decides to promote his unqualified college buddy. Despite this setback, Linda manages to tag along with Bradley and a group of sales associates to Bangkok for merger talks. Unfortunately, the plane crashes, and Linda and Bradley are the only survivors. They find themselves on a deserted island where Bradley must rely on Linda’s survival skills to, uh, survive. Which might seem impossible, however, meek Linda is actually a true-blue survivalist and even auditioned for Survivor at one point. To say anything more would go too far into spoiler territory, so I’ll stop with the summary there.
 
Send Help is a blast from start to finish. The script by Damian Shannon and Mark Swift is light on its feet, effortlessly sketching out characters without too much exposition. The story’s twists and turns are genuinely surprising and a joy to watch. This is all buoyed by Rami’s energetic direction – deploying many of his old Evil Dead tricks to great effect as well as his campy, corny sense of humor.
 
Something I think Raimi needs is a lead actor who shares his go-for-broke energy, and holy shit did he find it with Rachel McAdams. McAdams is a fantastic actress who often gets sidelined as a romantic lead, but here she dives headfirst into the campy tone Raimi is going for. There’s a moment in the film where McAdams hunts a boar, and she showcases delight, horror, and determination all at once. Her performance reminded me of Bruce Campbell in the Evil Dead films. I hope Send Help leads to many more collaborations between Raimi and McAdams.
 
While McAdams will be getting much-deserved praise for her work here, Dylan O’Brien also goes for it. Playing the smarmy Bradley with aplomb, and when the story descends into madness, O’Brien is right there along with McAdams. They’re both onboard for an unhinged, gory ride about being kind to one another.
I don’t have much more to say! Send Help is really fun, and you should see it with a large crowd.
 
Four out of Four Stars