Susie Searches

I loved this cheerfully dark detective story. The plotting subverted my expectations several times. The Director did an amazing job of balancing the dark true crime elements while being self aware and funny. The cast of characters were all likeable and quirky giving the events a quaint small town atmosphere. This film deserves more love, and I would love to see more from this Director. Seriously great work from everyone all around. The music and sound design were also incredibly tasteful, and I got both a cute coming of age story mixed with a creepy true crime narrative. The rotten tomatoes critics have unfairly rated this piece so low. The audience got it right. This was a fantastic little film. I haven't seen such good work from an indie in a while.

Since childhood, Susie (Kiersey Clemons) loves reading mysteries with her mother. As a part-time college student, she takes care of her sick mother, interns at the police station, and does her mystery podcast but no one actually listens to it. When popular student Jesse (Alex Wolff) goes missing, she sets out to solve the mystery.

The reveal needs to be shown much later in the movie. The audience needs to suspect Jesse of kidnapping himself for the attention. They need to start a list of possible suspects before the movie does the reveal. Some other minor changes include killing off the uncle to delete him from the suspect list and Jim Gaffigan needs to be smarter to ramp up the tension of possible discovery. He's only smart for the last scene which made me wonder where that character has been throughout the movie.

Sophie Kargman has written/directed a little masterpiece. The editing, music, sound effects, and the occasional very long take, keep you riveted to the movie. Kiersey Clemons plays the true crime podcaster with tremendous care, she's doing some very odd things very matter-of-fact-ly, very calmly. The twists and turns make it impossible to say much about the plot - indeed, you'll have the most fun watching if you know nothing about it. I found myself wondering a few times, now that I know that, where are we going? Oh...there! The arcs and the lively editing, music, and sound effects kept me glued to the screen, saying what? At times, and laughing a few times.

This must be one of the most painful movies I've watched in a long time.

First, the actual kidnapper is revealed much too early in the movie, but then the writer of the script, despite this, continues to throw in twists and turns as though the viewer is a complete and utter moron with no short-term memory at all.

It became obvious exceedingly early in the movie the director was trying to make an arthouse film and failed magnificently!

The only reason I watched it to the end was the hope against hope it would get better, but alas, I was denied any sense of enjoyment at all.

The characters, every single one, speaks slowly and methodically with each word. The dramatic pauses are overused and the abstract colors in the background, with the cliche and requisite low lighting everywhere, are CLEARLY there to set the same cliche mood every avant garde mystery movie has present.

I don't know where the positive reviews came from, unless they're friends of the writer, director, or one of the people in the movie.

Seriously, folks, don't waste your time. You'll regret watching this movie with every fiber of your being. This is a review coming from an avid mystery lover. Murder She Wrote has better acting and writing than this movie.

IF YOU'RE THINKING OF SEEING THIS MOVIE PLEEASE SEE IT! I thought it would be for kids even teenagers but adults can easily see this movie; the background music is terrific it gives you chills throughout the movie, the way susie and jessie's expressions are so masterfully done, it's fast paced , no nudity just straight to the point i wish more movies would be made like this; its perfect for those who want to be spooked but not to the level of scary faces; the ending was icing on the top. Jessie's trauma can easily be seen through his wonderful acting and you feel bad for him throughout. It's sad cause movies today that are actually watched the most are ones with nudity, swearing and violence so these underrated movies don't come to light.