Ready or Not
Director: Matt Bettinelli-Olpin, Tyler Gillett
Writer: Guy Busick, R. Christopher Murphy
Cast: Samara Weaving, Adam Brody, Mark O’Brien, Henry Czerny, Andie MacDowell, Melanie Scrofano, Kristian Bruun, Elyse Levesque, Nicky Guadagni, John Ralston
Seen on: 4.10.2019

Plot:
Grace (Samara Weaving) just married Alex (Mark O’Brien) at his luxurious family estate. The ceremony was beautiful and things are winding down, when Alex informs her that it is family tradition that the play a game on wedding night with the entire family. Grace is determined to make a good impression, so of course she’ll play. What she doesn’t know, though, is that it’s not really a game – it’s a question of life and death as she needs to survive the night.

Ready or Not is an entertaining film with a great first, and a not-so great second half. It does squander its critical potential a little, but I definitely had fun with it.

Ready or Not starts off really great. The set-up, the beginning of the game are pretty much perfect. The second half got a little long though and the showdown lacked the humor that the first half had in spades (though I did get the feeling that they sometimes substituted jokes with exclaimed “fuck”s, and while I have nothing against cursing, it’s not funny per se) .

The ending itself was nicely executed, but I did want to see how the authorities would react to and explain everything (maybe worth a sequel?). Plus, I really wanted to see a little more criticism of rich people and their privileges, but the film didn’t quite go there.

There were a couple of decisions that didn’t really make sense to me and seemed only to serve making the film a little longer- unnecessarily. I did like the idea with the car, but a) who reported it stolen when? and b) can the butler fly?

But Samara Weaving was simply fantastic and carries the film even through its weaker moments. Overall I’d say the entertainment factor definitely outweighs the not-so good parts. This is a film that can be easily enjoyed.

Summarizing: fun!