What Comes Around

A couple interesting twists, but the acting by Summer Phoenix is so so bad that there is no chance for this movie to be taken seriously. Grace Van Dien tries and plays the role well enough. Kyle Gallner shines here. With better dialogue and acting, this could have been a really successful psychological thriller. As it stands though, it's a dark and twisty Hallmark movie. I have to keep writing about this movie, so I will mention that Anna's outfit choices are interesting. Maybe this is how some teens dress these days, but I saw a lot of outfits that read professor/librarian, which felt off. And that's all I have to say about that.

Greetings again from the darkness. Not long ago, cable movie channels were filled with late night flicks that were easy enough to watch, and even easier to forget. Unfortunately, that description fits the second feature film from director Amy Redford (daughter of screen legend Robert Redford). Scott Organ adapted the screenplay from his own play, "The Thing with Feathers", and the title of the film has been changed ... it played the 2022 Toronto Film Festival as ROOST. It's one of those times where some individual pieces are better than the film as a whole.

Grace Van Dien ("Stranger Things, CHARLIE SAYS, 2018) stars as Anna, who is on the verge of her 17th birthday. She has been secretly online chatting with an older "college boy" named Eric. In a virtual 'meet cute', they read Emily Dickinson poetry to each other and talk for hours. Since he lives 900 miles away, the two have never met, but in typical teenage fashion, Anna says "he gets me." As an unexpected birthday surprise, Eric (Kyle Gallner, THE FINEST HOURS, "Interrogation") shows up at her door and drops off a thoughtful present. All of this is happening as Anna's mother Beth (Summer Phoenix, sister of Joaquin and the late River) announces her engagement to her cop boyfriend Tim (Jesse Garcia, QUINCEANERA, 2016).

The proverbial 'stuff' hits the fan when Anna introduces Eric to her mom. Not only is Eric a bit older than he let on (and the college story was a fabrication), his aw-shucks and overly apologetic demeanor don't seem to charm anyone except Anna. But more than that, there's a twist here that causes a cosmic shift in all of these relationships.

Grace Van Dien is the great-granddaughter of the late and legendary Robert Mitchum, and she's worked non-stop the past ten years, though I've only seen her in a couple of things. She clearly has screen presence, although this role doesn't stretch her much at all. I do hope she's offered some more challenging projects moving forward. The bulk of the film's second half focuses on creepy manipulation and the grooming of teenagers ... a hot and important topic lately due to the vulnerability of teenage girls. The message is appreciated, but this one would have benefitted from some script polishing so that the dialogue was more realistic.

Opens on August 4, 2023.

No pun intended - and yes I know the saying (goes around) - and I understand what the title is suggesting. You will too, when you see the movie. I was trying to figure out which direction this would take. It didn't exactly go the route I thought it would go - still a warning sign - or maybe multiple warning signs.

Grace van Dien, daughter of Casper, got quite famous - not so much because of her father, but because of Stranger Things - which I have not seen yet. But it is on my list. This is not exploitative by the way if that is something you are looking for - it is quite obvious from a certain point forward ... when the twist comes to play. And the cliches keep ... coming up too (no pun intended) .... it tries hard to give us food for thought ... and the actors try their best ... but it never really gets there (in my book) ... still good effort.

There is much to like with this movie. Grace Van Dien and the ever excellent Kyle Gallner are the two best reasons to watch this movie. Both are utterly convincing in their roles.

The direction and the editing, on the the other hand are, well, sub standard, is the polite way to say it. Some shots are dwelt on for too long and some of the scenes feel that they are 'acted' rather than having two people having a real conversation. The other actors are quite awful.

There is a nice little plot twist that comes in about half an hour into the movie that stops it falling into a schmaltzy Hallmark type movie.

Is it worth a watch? Kind of, but with some reservations.

Half of the outfits of the mother and daughter are horrendous. In one scene the mom is wearing a mechanics overalls with dress shoes. In another scene the daughter is wearing a table cloth. The daughter dresses like a shes trying out for different plays. Even the step dad is suppose to be a cop but dresses like a big dork.

The overall plot is a good idea but its filmed weird. Its like it flip flops film types. But its an easy watch. Doesnt require too much brain power to keep up. Which im not sure is a good or a bad thing. The daughter almost resembles a tubi version of scarlett johanson. And the other thing the daughter and mother dont look related.