Movie Review: Him

 

Michael's Movie Grade: F

An astonishingly bad film. 

This movie about an upcoming football player who gets a chance to train with his hero and uncovers dark secrets about what it takes to become a great football player, has some good ideas. However, all of these ideas are completely wasted in this extremely messy movie. The tone is all over the place here and goes from being a very serious social commentary to an over-the-top parody to being a horror picture. None of these elements mesh together at all. The parody gets so over the top and silly that it is hard to take the commentary or horror seriously. This is not to say that any of these elements would have worked well on their own. The comedy is never funny, as the filmmakers seem to think that simply being over the top is funny in and of itself. The social commentary is even worse. While there is something to be said about how cultish sports have become in America, this movie beats you over the head with everything it has to say. After so much religious and cultish symbolism is constantly thrown at you, you may want to shout, "I get it already" to the screen. I am not saying that a movie like this should be subtle, but it doesn't have to constantly beat us over the head with everything it needs to say either. As the story gets sillier and more over the top, the social commentary gets even more heavy handed. The horror is more of a joke than the actual comedy. The film's attempts at horror are embarrassingly inept, relying solely on the cheapest of jump scares and bloody images that simply feel unnecessary. Actors Marlon Wayans and Tyriq Withers try their best with the material they are given. However, if you could get a cast of the greatest actors of all time, they couldn't even make this mess of a movie to work.

I am almost in awe of just how bad this movie is. ·