YNOT at the Movies

If something seems too good to be true, it probably is. The actress Zoë Kravitz goes behind the camera to illustrate that point in her clumsy directorial debut "Blink Twice" (Mexico/USA 2024 | 102 min.). The farfetched plot and the unconvincing performance keep the audience from having any empathy for the horror endured by the film's characters.

Frida (Naomi Ackie) is a struggling waitress to make ends meet working at corporate extravagant fundraising events. When she and her friend Jess (Alia Shawkat) crash an event hosted by tech billionaire Slater King (Channing Tatum), they are thrilled to be invited to his private island for a vacation.

Upon arriving at the island by a private jet with a group of guests, they are pampered with beautiful dresses, exquisite cologne, delicious champagne, candlelight fancy dinners, and endless sunshine by the poolside. Everyone seems to be having a great time. But we can sense that something is fishy. Even though at times Frida and Jess also have some doubt, they choose to believe that Slater is indeed fond of them and offers them a free ride to the fun.

After Jess is bitten by a snake and Frida conveniently digests a little snake's venom, the non-stop party hits the pause button. Instead of being poisoned to death by the venom, they end up waking from the delusion and begin to see the horrific reality.

If that sounds ridiculous, that is actually how the story unfolds. The director Zoë Kravitz doesn't seem to know what kind of story she wants to tell. She also conveniently forgets to explain many details and leave some of the clues loose, such as the chicken and the red gift bags. If she aims to make a horror movie, this film is hardly scary, despite plenty of blood and screaming. If she wants to make a comedy, the film is rarely funny, despite the stupidity often exhibited by the characters. But the root of the problem is that the story doesn't make sense, and it only serves as a setup for those characters to run amok.

It would be a spoiler if I reveal why the guests don't see the danger when they are enjoying the dream vacation on that private island, and the reason is preposterous. However, I choose to omit mentioning other characters because most of them are completely ignorable and none of them are relevant. They just act either crazy or scared under the direction of the director. None of them are slightly convincing.

Slater tells Frida that "forgetting is a gift." That advice certainly fits well for the film's audience. This is a forgettable film to say the least. The guests in the film are also repeatedly asked by their host: "Are you having a good time?" The answer is definitely no if the question is directed to the film's audience.

"Blink Twice" opens on Friday, August 23, 2024.