“RACHEL MCADAMS MAKES EVERYTHING BETTER!” I need that on a T-shirt! I would scream it from the rooftops. This movie has brought me out of my cinematic hibernation, and I’m excited to see what McAdams, along with Sam Raimi, has in store for us. And because it’s Raimi, I don’t know if this deserted island fun fare is going to deliver surreal spook in the way of Evil Dead, balls-out terror as is the way with Drag Me to Hell, or something more vanilla.
Linda Liddle (Rachel McAdams) works for Bradley Preston (Dylan O’Brien) in a crummy office cubical where she isn’t appreciated for her efforts. Actually, Linda worked for Bradley’s father and was promised a promotion, as he built the company, but now Bradley has taken over, and wants to dismiss Linda shallowly, finding her repulsive. Yet Linda is needed to get the new less-qualified company partner up to speed, so she is invited to accompany them on a private plane trip that crashes badly after hitting turbulence. Washing up on shore of a tropical island, the power dynamic is about to change, because Linda has trained in minimalist survival as a Survivor game-show tragic. While Bradley, on the other hand, can’t do anything for himself and must rely on Linda.
Never bet against Rachel McAdams. Although she shares the screen with a pleasantly present Dylan O’Brien, this is her movie; there’s no questioning that. Contained within, are scenes where McAdams is particularly brilliant, like the office confrontation at the beginning, and relaying the events of her late husband 😔 I love Rachel McAdams, and I will continue to love her, compounded by this movie, where her charm comes through. But… and there is a but… who wouldn’t fall in love with this sun-soaked glow-up that happens to Linda in this movie? It was unexpected when Bradley revealed a secret raft to escape, and absurd too, with this absolute hunni strolling the sands and preparing fresh sushi each morning. The lady who crashed out of that plane, and the one who inhabits the island, are two different people, beyond the confidence Linda earns in survival mode –the crazy, or rather, socially inept, elements of her personality melt away quickly, and we’re left with pure beauty. I’m sad to say that I was comparing McAdams to Kathy Bates a lot through this viewing, knowing how Bates excelled with these types of characterisations in the nineties, in either Misery (for the most callous and unhinged elements) and Fried Green Tomatoes (for the gentler, empathetic ruthlessness). Even in the modern day, would a Jillian Bell pairing serve for a better contrast in this story, with Dylan O’Brien? A more unlikely love story? The movie goes out of its way to make Linda look frumpy and unappealing in the beginning, and subtlety is dead ☠️ If the movie wanted to tone down all that by the time Linda has settled into the island, and keep McAdams, couldn’t she be a normal woman and still be overlooked by her boss? In fact, that would be scarier – if at no point she hinted at being unkempt and was psycho by the end. Make her bookish. Or like a placid primary school teacher, with big beads and a flowy dress, whose flaw is going with the flow instead of standing up for herself. No need to go to the Agatha-Trunchbull-level fashion faux pas, with her thick socks and pre-war shoes. Great, now I’m the judgmental objectifier 🙃 This is not to say my girl McAdams doesn’t do her part, contribute the heavy lifting and eat it up! Send Help is a tick in her column, while the characterisation wants it one way and the other.
And who else has seen Triangle of Sadness, out in recent years? I think our writers have. Or fallen victim to “parallel thinking”, because in that movie too, contrasting a cultural decadence and social hierarchy, it’s stripped away for refuge, where the ability to be rescued is hidden by the advantageous party in the predicament. In Triangle of Sadness, our sympathies for the affected heroine are so easily given too, because we realise how sad society can be for her, in comparison to the life she is managing by the sea. Here, we can no longer root for Linda after she kills Zuri (Edyll Ismall), can we? Or the poor boat captain who is never referenced again. And therefore, the entire third act is a whole bloody conflict where choosing the lesser of two evils is difficult, and I hope nobody wins. And why does Linda get to have a happy ending anyway? Those final few minutes brought this movie down an entire half-star for me. It’s all quite cliché, really – are we at the tail end of anti-accountable radical feminism, where women protagonists can get away with murder (literally) and still end boss, or not? The ending reminded me of Blink Twice for how gloriously it all works out whilst being on the nose. In fact, this might be more shameless than Blink Twice, because at least in the former our heroine endured some pretty unforgivable stuff. I don’t like it.
What I’m really dancing around with Send Help is that while it does contain some entertaining elements and scenes, the story wobbles around never really finding its place, much like a coconut tree in a strong breeze. I felt like the setup went on a bit too long, before the plane crash, and then the suggested romantic elements, the same, before the erratic ending comes about and is really unearned. I am staggered that there is not a scene where Bradley can call out Linda for some of her behaviour, where she takes it onboard, to show how the two can grow together, and make each other better, before the acts of betrayal are confirmed. But this movie seems to be pure female wish fulfilment and treats Linda like has no lesson to learn – it’s all very one-sided. Certainly, winning has been an issue for Linda throughout, but she achieves this through murdering and lying 🤷♂️ The movie also promises horror on the billing, but those elements are really tossed in like scraps to the pigs; through the boar hunt, and that one terrible zombie jump-scare that was obvious a mile out because the superimposed jungle background didn’t gel with the outline of McAdams, indicating to me a high probability of the uncanny (modern Hollywood might not have to worry about AI movies yet, competing for authenticity, but special effects have surely become cheaper looking in recent years, and AI won’t have much trouble matching the level).
Ultimately, this is an uneven movie that never excels in any firm direction and doesn’t stitch together as elegantly as something like The Banshees of Inisherin or Baby Driver, that can morph genres or level up tensions with ease. Send Help is not much more stimulating than Sandra Bullock’s The Lost City for a puffy jungle romp, and in fact, it may be more disappointing. Never count out my girl Rachel McAdams though – I came for the McAdams show, and I wasn’t let down on that front. If only the movie made around her matched her generous allure.
2.5
Leave a Reply