If I were a betting man, I would bet that you might like at least one of these movies.
Fortunately, I’m not into gambling.
Then again, neither of the participants in these particular games.
Both movies are about an eccentric rich man who puts regular folk through hell just for kicks and cash.
Each time, it turns into a sadistic mess.
Bad for the people involved. Good for an audience.
Iris (Brittany Snow) has a lot on her plate. She’s looking for a job, but no one wants her. Her brother has cancer and needs lots of treatments that neither of them can afford. So what’s a poor girl to do?
Luckily (?) her doctor happens to be treating a guy who might have a solution. Shepard Lambrick (Jeffrey Combs) has a family foundation that helps people out. All she has to do is show up at has mansion, have dinner and be chosen. But what does THAT mean?
When she shows up, she meets a host of other folks up for the cash. (Of them, you’ll recognize at least June Squibb, John Heard, Sasha Grey and Eddie Steeples. Don’t lie. You TOTALLY recognize Sasha Grey.) When Lambrick challenges Iris, a devout vegetarian, to eat her steak for a stack of money, it seems mean, but mostly harmless. When he challenges Heard, an alcoholic, to drink a bottle of whiskey, we know he’s pretty evil.
Then the game truly begins. “Would you rather electrocute yourself? Or someone else?” Is this a game anymore? Are we going to die? Is life really this cheap?
The movie isn’t particularly shocking (except maybe the eye trauma) and there aren’t many surprises, really…but I love the hell out of Jeffrey Combs. He raises this movie a couple of notches with his semi-over the top, eccentric performance. And it really does kind of make you think: what would you do to another human being for the end of all of your financial problems? And would that start a whole new batch of problems?
CHEAP THRILLS (2013)
Craig Daniels (the always reliable Pat Healy) is at his wit’s end. His money problems have been building for a couple of years now and he just lost his job. That’s when he meets up with his old buddy (Ethan Embry) who started him on this crazy path of owing too much money. The two start drinking and encounter a super eccentric millionaire named Colin (David Koechner). His trophy wife seems to be along for the ride, but she turns out to be just as strange as he is. (She’s played by Healy’s The Innkeepers costar, Sara Paxton.)
Colin and Violet dare Craig and Vince to do crazier and crazier things as the evening goes on, each time giving he person who completes the dare a stack of cash. Craig keeps threatening to go home, but the stacks get bigger and bigger. Can he resist the temptation of an end to his problems? Or will he become just as bad as his hosts? And will his wife ever trust him again?
Cheap Thrills almost feels darker than Would You Rather, but it has more of a sense of humor. This actually makes it a much better and more memorable movie. Koechner is almost as creepy as Combs, but he’s more jovial…which makes him all the crazier. This guy is everybody’s redneck buddy! And he’s challenging two friends to punch each other…and worse. Much worse.
Yeah. I love this movie. If you’re into nearly nihilistic cinema that packs a bit of a punch, check it out.
