Seriously, how was it possible to get this movie produced or made? It's student level like, in the way it's filmed, and written. The script is laughable, and UNBELIEVABLE from beginning to end. I can't remember all the unbelievable points, but here's a list (without spoiler):
I could go on like this... nothing that happens in this movie is believable. The suspense is fake, with a few fake useless jump scares. Using a knife only to use it doesn't make a film suspenseful. The film is indeed full of accessories and tools like a knife or syringes to make it oppressive, but it just doesn't work, for nothing happens throughout.
The idea of two different groups who must live together and who are afraid of each other was a nice one, and has potential. But, all the good ideas (there were not many, though) were ruined by a poor devastating storyline and silly lines. A girl sitting next to me in the theater felt uncomfortable and almost laughed at these stupid dialogs, instinctively shout "seriously?!". People behind me whispered throughout the whole film, bored, stunned at such lines. Even Miranda Otto herself feels uncomfortable at times with these lines written by a 14-year-old. She and Noah Wyle try their best they can't save this. Still, the actors are the only one here who are true professionals, doing their job despite the script.
And, to cap it all off, this love story... unbelievable. It comes straight from a high school script. And, of course, in this film, police are the vilains, and very bad, using a gun. All this in a Beverly Hills mansion, are they investigating a terrorist threat ?!
- The decision the couple makes at the beginning of the film is unbelievable, such a multi millionaire couple (especially a lawyer) living in a Beverly Hills mansion would never take such risks. I would buy if it was rather the big boss of a small business, or a factory, to avoid paying employer's charges or to underpay the employees. But such a couple, nah, that's impossible.
- The "paper" the police gives to the couple. SO laughable, such a thing cannot happen in real life, nah !
- The husband orders to not approach the windows, to not be seen from the street. SO LAUGHABLE ! In a Beverly Hills mansion, seriously? Has the screenwriter or the filmmaker already been in a real Beverly Hills mansion? FYI, this type of mansion is at least 150 inches from the street, they have huge alleys, yards, with very tall hedges and trees, you can't see anything at all in the house from the street, so it's not believable at all. In addition, this house DOES have a long alley with hedges, so, that's impossible to be seen from the outside. And Beverly Hills's mansions do not have transparent windows ! I first thought the husband had a hidden agenda in his mind, just to find out that the character is silly, and not realistic.
- Here comes the couple, just unbelievable how they behave. They don't look at all like multi millionaires and the house is pretty cold inside. They rather look or feel like upper middle class but not multi millionaires living in a 20 M$ mansion ! Taking care of your face with a cleaning mask doesn't make you a Beverly Hills multi millionaire ! Such a cliché. And having a security alarm program is far from being enough. Marianne (and Peter) doesn't behave at all like a wealthy lady, and doesn't do anything which makes her belong to this social class. The script completely fails this.
- The husband, can't buy it's hard for him to find a new job, and all the stress that he feels. Again, this can be a middle or upper middle class fear but not a multi millionaire lawyer living in Beverly. Such a character would not even need to work or, would find a new job in half a day. One solution would have been that they inherited the house, or the money.
I could go on like this... nothing that happens in this movie is believable. The suspense is fake, with a few fake useless jump scares. Using a knife only to use it doesn't make a film suspenseful. The film is indeed full of accessories and tools like a knife or syringes to make it oppressive, but it just doesn't work, for nothing happens throughout.
The idea of two different groups who must live together and who are afraid of each other was a nice one, and has potential. But, all the good ideas (there were not many, though) were ruined by a poor devastating storyline and silly lines. A girl sitting next to me in the theater felt uncomfortable and almost laughed at these stupid dialogs, instinctively shout "seriously?!". People behind me whispered throughout the whole film, bored, stunned at such lines. Even Miranda Otto herself feels uncomfortable at times with these lines written by a 14-year-old. She and Noah Wyle try their best they can't save this. Still, the actors are the only one here who are true professionals, doing their job despite the script.
And, to cap it all off, this love story... unbelievable. It comes straight from a high school script. And, of course, in this film, police are the vilains, and very bad, using a gun. All this in a Beverly Hills mansion, are they investigating a terrorist threat ?!