Bodies Bodies Bodies

Synopsis: In an isolated family mansion, a group of rich 20-somethings decides to play Bodies Bodies Bodies, a game where one of them is secretly a “killer” while the rest tries to “escape”. Things take a turn for the worse when real bodies start turning up, setting off a paranoid and dangerous chain of events.

Review:

I was really excited about this film after the initial trailer, and I was really disappointed with the final product, but I think that is ok because I am not sure I a am the target audience a 47 year old man from the city who now lives in the burbs. I think the process by which this film was made is really interesting, on the Big Picture podcast Sean Fennessey interviewed the director Halina Rejin and I was really intrigued at her process of working with the actors, recording their actual dinner conversations to influence and become some of the dialogue. I feel like this is a cast full of stars, some that are already really well known today like the amazing Lee Pace, the electric Rachel Sennott we last saw in the tragically under seen Shiva Baby. Pete Davidson is well known for his social life, time on Saturday Night Live and standup career but he has impressed me with the roles he has pursued and what he has done with the roles he has landed. For most films this would be enough to land the film and would likely be the end of the members of the cast we would recognize, but I am positing that this will be a film that we look back on the amazing cast as a who’s who of the next two decades.

The movie open with Amandla Stenberg as Sophie and Maria Bakalova as Bee in a car on the way to a get together of Sophie’s friend group. Amandla is so compelling and believable as the complex, complicated Sophie, we have seen her grow up on screen from her role in Hunger Games as Roe. Maria has a innocence and fish out of water feel as Bee and is a really good canvas for all the madness of this group of friends to react to their actions. Chase Sui Wonders plays Emma who is dating David played by Pete Davidson, the film takes place at David’s family home, David is the weird, drug-addled hub of this group of friends and Sophie’s best friend. Rachel Sennott plays Alice who is dating Lee Pace’s Greg who’s significantly older then this group of friends, she is a podcaster and has one of the funniest lines of the film:

“First of all, a podcast takes a lot of work. Okay? You have to organize the guests. You have to do a Google Calendar. And then you build a following! It takes a lot of f***ing time! And I’ve been working on it for a while.”

The last person to call out of the main cast is Myha’la Herrold and she is so much fun as the prickly Jordan and her frustrated grumpiness is great! Was a really nice surprise to recognize her from Plan B where she was Logen and is the reveal of the person that Lupe was texting from the beginning of the film.

So many amazing folks in this film and will often be the movie that people will be referencing over the next 20 years as the film that has an amazing cast of superstars.