What You Wish For

Sort of like a B movie version of The Menu, What You Wish For follows Ryan (Stahl) a chef with gambling problems who flees to a Latin America villa that his friend is staying in. Ryan wishes he had his friend, Jack's life because it seems so much better than this. Well he gets his wish... but soon finds out that Jack's life wasn't as great as it initially seemed. This is a very weird and solid indie that I would say mostly works and is definitely worth watching. The plot of this isn't really anything new but if you like dark comedies you will probably like this. Although in my opinion this movie sort of flounders in the third act and the ending to me was kinda ultimately unsatisfying, but I would still say this is worth a watch.

Stahl who was a promising actor in the early 2000's sort of disappeared for a while and fell off the radar due to his substance abuse issues. Although if you look at his IMDB page for the past few years he's been trying to work his way back by doing smaller indie movies like this. What You Wish For is likely the best of the bunch. Also if you want the best experience when watching this movie go in blind and don't watch the trailer (it spoils basically everything). Nick Stahl definitely deserves to have a comeback.

I was sucked into this film by the preview ('trailer' as the US calls it). It hooked me.

But, previews are easy to make, and often - far, far too often, these days - make the usual junk look good.

To my amazement, this isn't junk. What You Wish For is a competently written, well organised, pacey little thriller.

Actually, the start seems a little slow, but there's a reason. It's actually setting up the knockdown.

Rather than just showing you the rest of the film is going to be slow close-ups on people's faces and droning fake orchestra music over nothing actually happening.

No, this is NOT one of those films. This is a proper film, written and directed by someone who can write and direct.

Is it a masterpiece? What does that even mean anymore? It's not going to change anyone's life.

Does it stand OUT, like RIGHT OUT, in the sea of boredom we now live in? Yes, yes it does!

Good film. Recommended!

Not the best thriller out there but I'm so happy I found this little gem. I advise everyone to go into this movie not watching the trailer or reading too much about the movie. The idea is a never-seen-before one (this is low-key what I expected from the Netflix movie 'Hunger') and the major plot twist made my jaw drop. The cinematography was so much better than I'd normally expect from a low-budget movie, and the ending was incredibly satisfying too. I admit that near the end I didn't like the way things were going, but upon reflexion I don't think another ending would have been more satisfying. I wish more thrillers were made like this. And while you watch the movie, remember... be careful what you wish for.

I don't think I've ever watched a movie this good that I haven't heard buzz for beforehand. I watched this as a complete fluke because the poster image was cool and 6.8 is a decent score on IMDb. The acting besides the friend at the beginning, is excellent. The story is tightly paced and ultimately very logical which is always a surprise in this type of movie.

I watch a lot of movies in particular a lot of horror, and I haven't felt this tense in a movie and quite a while. This movie was evocative to me of The Gift, so if you enjoyed that I believe you will also like this movie. Highly recommend overall!

(Hunter Hunter is the last movie I've seen starring Nick Stahl and it is also very tense and memorable. I would recommend watching that if you enjoyed his performance here.)

This movie is messed up, but in a good way if that makes any sense. Yes, I recommend it because it is a crazy premise but it makes sense how it is executed with most angles covered to protect the organization.

The actors are great, you would expect people no different if this organization was really operating!

It is dark and not for young people because it is a bleak premise from start to finish.

But what a ride. Once the plot is revealed, it is referred to almost casually as a task that must be accomplished, and there are complications which arise in the dinner plan.

This is what makes this movie so interesting!