The Trailer:
Director: David Guy Levy
Cast: Brittany Snow, Jeffrey Combs, Enver Gjokaj, Robin Lord Taylor, Sasha Grey, John Heard, Charlie Hofheimer, Eddie Steeples, & Rob Wells
Plot Summary: Struggling to care for her ailing brother, Iris (Brittany Snow) is offered an opportunity to receive help from the mysterious Lambrick foundation to which she agrees, unaware that her decision will put her at the mercy of a sadistic aristocrat.
Would You Rather is a step below (or above, depending on your opinion of) the Saw franchise. It's the type of movie where the antagonist never actually harms any of the victims, but makes them harm themselves. It's okay in regards to the story, kind of interesting, but ultimately it's forgettable.
To elaborate on the rules of the game, each character is presented with two equally horrid actions and must decide which to carry out. The choice of actions given are subtle compared to the types of torture we've seen in other films of the genre. But by no means are any of the choices easily made, except by one character. Even still, the movie kind of drags on a bit and is repetitive. It gets boring after some time of watching these characters have to make a decision, because we know that there is inevitable pain coming to either themselves or to another dinner guest. Don't get me wrong though, I still tensed up every time a person was faced with a new decision, but I wasn't as intrigued by the time the fourth challenge came around. I kept watching though because I wanted to see how far the torture was going to go. There is definitely a lot of blood which is nice, if you like that sort of thing (I most certainly do). And there is a bit of a twist at the end, but if you're an analytical movie viewer the way I am (or perhaps even an amateur movie watcher, the twist really isn't that hard to figure out), you'll see it coming about a mile away. I did enjoy the absolute joy and pleasure that the Lambrick's (father and son) and their staff had as they watched this horrid game that they'd carefully orchestrated: Their sadism is horrifying yet entertaining.
The acting is average. Nobody goes above and beyond, but nobody absolutely sucks either. I was impressed with Brittany Snow's performance the most. Though I am aware of her impressive list of acting jobs, I have only seen her in her two most popular films, Pitch Perfect and John Tucker Must Die, to which I am not a huge fan of either (well John Tucker Must Die isn't so bad, but her performance there isn't award-worthy). But here she did a decent job as a scream queen and as the final girl (that's not much of a spoiler as it's expected, amIright?). Robin Lord Taylor as Julian Lambrick, the son of Shepard Lambrick, is annoyingly attractive. Annoying because, he is the epitome of a disaffected, rich kid. He's a downright douche-bag! Everyone else did okay performances, nothing award-worthy, but good.
Now for the things that just bother me about this movie. For one, Shepard Lambrick, the one in charge of the whole dinner party and game, is a characterization of the evil villain. He seems silly in most circumstances, kind of like a parent who has always been the fun parent but now has to, ineffectively, lay down the rules.He's hard to take seriously. Second, the character of Julian Lambrick is absolutely pointless. He is more of a plot device than a character who adds substance to the story. And once he's used for his plot-device-purpose, he is dismissed from the rest of the movie. I don't know, I was just annoyed with it. Third, each character was given a chance to leave the party before the game officially started and none of them took it. They saw how cruel the Lambrick's are when Shepard Lambrick bribes Iris with ten thousand dollars to eat meat after she mentioned that she is vegetarian, also when he bribes another guest with fifty thousand dollars to drink scotch after sixteen years of sobriety, yet no one said "hey maybe I don't want to be here". Fourth, it is implied that the Lambrick's have done this type of dinner party before (maybe multiple times), so how come no one knows what is going on? I mean none of the previous winners have come forward and told authorities what really happens at these dinner parties? And what about the losers of the previous games— the ones who've died—, how are none of their families worried about what happened to them? Also, I didn't see Iris or any of the other guests sign a non-disclosure agreement or anything of the sort, so what's to keep them from telling anyone what has happened? What kept previous winners from saying anything? I suppose you can reason that by the logic of "you don't bite the hand that feeds", but still NO ONE said anything?
As I said before Would You Rather is a perfectly average horror film. It's got okay acting, a decent story, blood, tension, all the ingredients for something good, yet it is positively forgettable. Would I watch it again? Nah, I'd rather not.
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