Dave Franco

LOVE LIES BLEEDING (2024)


A24 and Film4 bring us a noir thriller starring Kristen Stewart.

Stewart plays Lou, the manager of a gym where she meets and falls in love with the body builder Jackie, played with roided ferocity by Katy O’ Brian.
Unfortunately, Stewart’s family is as criminally unsavoury as it gets and things don’t go swimmingly for the two of them. 
That may be an understatement.

Tonally reminiscent of Red Rock West, The Last Seduction with a touch of U Turn and set in 1989 in New Mexico it has a 90’s feel to it. It is kinetic, exciting and raw.

Director Rose Glass follows up her excellent debut film Saint Maud, here again on writing and directing duties and giving us a taut thriller with some nasty characters and some connected to them by blood and circumstance. Switching genres with seeming ease, here she does steamy and sweaty thriller with skill. You can almost feel the heat coming through the screen via the Mexican setting and the chemistry between the two lovers.

Katy O' Brian and Kristen Stewart in Love Lies Bleeding

Katy O’ Brian and Kristen Stewart in Love Lies Bleeding

This is ostensibly a love story against all the odds and Stewart and O’ Brian convincingly play the lovers and as in most noirs they find themselves in sticky situations, mainly of their own doings.

We get a menacing Ed Harris, bald on top with long hair hanging to his sides, creeping up the joint playing a pretty messed up dude who loves insects and Dave Franco playing against type as the wife-beating brother-in-law of Stewart’s Lou, Jena Malone as Lou’s abused sister and special mention goes to Anna Baryshnikov (daughter of famed ballet dancer Mikhail) as the always doting on Lou, Daisy, who is absolutely brilliant. 

Everyone’s a winner, at least in the acting stakes.

Ed Harris in Love Lies Bleeding

Ed Harris in Love Lies Bleeding

A24 continues to deliver films outside the mainstream and thank goodness for them.

On the surface, this film travels well-worn roads but having a female couple as the main lovers bucks the usual trend and gives us a satisfying queer thriller or queer noir if you will, not seen at this level since the Wachowski’s brilliant Bound.

Rose Glass delivers a very entertaining thriller with some unexpected flourishes that takes the viewer on a journey that is definitely not the norm.
Much much more power to her for that.

See it at the cinema now.
104 Minutes

BAD NEIGHBOURS (2014)

BadNeighbours_KeyArt-1

Again, here we have a premise that could have been a killer. Unfortunately, it comes across as a drama student project. Not left in the oven long enough. The guilty parties specifically being Seth Rogen and Rose Byrne. Yawn.

Unconvincingly directed by Nicholas Stoller (Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Get Him To The Greek) this is about a bunch of frat boys (including Zac Efron and Dave Franco) who move into a neighbourhood, next door to a 30-something couple with a newborn (Rogen, Byrne and a baby) . The couple still want to be seen as cool and party heads, but very quickly get tired of the noise and end up calling the police, creating a war between the two parties.

Hilarity should ensue, but the coupling of Rogen and Byrne just doesn’t ring true and either the script they were given was terrible or their chemistry and improvisational skills leave a bitter taste. Seth Rogen being usually adept at this.
It’s embarrassing as their tête-à-têtes go on for far too long and are neither funny nor clever.

A shame then, that Efron and Franco show much deeper comedic skills than the two leads. Efron, who could easily have been written off as that High School Musical kid, is showing the world that he has talent beyond the world of Disney. He was great in Liberal Arts and is definitely one to watch.

Franco shows some great comedic timing here and is also one to watch, stepping out of the shadow of his brother and making a name for himself. He was sturdy in 21 Jump St. A worthy mention should go to Jerrod Carmichael as one of the frat boys, whose delivery and later scenes with the very funny Hannibal Buress are by far the best parts of the movie. Also, the surprise appearance of Craig Roberts (Submarine) felt forced and badly edited, a poor reflection on the film-makers rather than the talented actor.

A sloppy film that, like many others had potential but ultimately didn’t know what to do with itself. Again, half baked. Someone should have shut down the improv-fest betwixt Rogen and Byrne.
Tighten up.

1.5/5

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