Ready or Not

I had high hopes for this. It sounded like a spiritual successor to You’re Next. It has Samara Weaving, who has an irresistible spunk and charm. It had themes of class warfare, how the rich become disconnected from reality and look down on outsiders and the lower class, the struggles of fitting in with one’s own family, and the burden of tradition. And then I saw it was made by Radio Silence, and I knew my hopes were misplaced. There are occasional funny moments, and Samara Weaving’s charm and electricity cannot be dulled or suppressed. It isn’t terrible. But as the last two Scream movies showed, Radio Silence cannot write a tight, cohesive script without relying on hoary narrative crutches, a worrying surplus of gotcha twist moments that can be seen coming with your eyes closed, and they have no concept of how to handle satire. Deus ex machinas about in Ready Or Not, and when those aren’t cluttering up the story, their handling of satire is like trying to juggle chainsaws in boxing gloves. All the subtlety and intelligence and commentary one might find is nowhere to be found. It is either unexplored and viewed as quickly as a race car driver views the audience at 150 mph, or it’s used with such blunt force as to crush the satire out of it. Yes, the rich are weird and perverse and view lower classes as expendable. Yes, families can be hostile to outsiders and put them through the wringer to make them fit in. AND? ANYTHING ELSE? It is this emptiness that sucks the life out of Ready Or Not. It wants to be social satire, but never has anything to say. It wants to be clever, but it isn’t smart enough. It’s direction is dull and plodding, with music cues frequently misapplied, and characters vacillating in motivation or attitude because the plot can’t plot by itself. It is through the rare comedic moments and undeniable light of Weaving that this movie rises to tolerable, and only just.