Each of the twentysomething “friends” in Bodies Bodies Bodies desperately needs a new social group, but for now they’re stuck together in the sprawling mansion belonging to the parents of David (Pete Davidson) while a hurricane rages outside. They pass the time by partying, playing the “guess the murderer” game of the title, and making passive-agressive jabs that increase in aggressiveness to the point of actual murder. But who did it? Who keeps doing it?
We’re fairly certain it’s not Bee (Maria Bakalova of Borat Subsequent Moviefilm), an outsider brought to this gathering of childhood-friends-turned-snipers by her new girlfriend Sophie (Amandla Stenberg of The Hate U Give and Dear Evan Hansen). But it could be Sophie. Or it could be any one of the other self-obsessed, reflexively insincere, easily triggered attendees. It’s difficult to care much for any of them (save for Lee Pace’s Greg, an amusingly chill, fortysomething hanger-on who doesn’t realize what a snake pit he’s fallen into), but first-time screenwriter Sarah DeLappe brings a darkly comic conviction to the story that makes it clear you shouldn’t bother trying. (Her characters speak only in subtweets: “not to be mean” . . . “but that’s a good thing” . . . “I’m just saying” . . . “literally.”)
Some of the suspense staging gets messy, but director Halina Reijn and cinematographer Jasper Wolf do land on a clever, nightmare-nightclub visual scheme once the power goes out and the characters must rely on glow sticks and their camera-phone lights. It’s telling that none of them bother to grab a flashlight from the stack on a table, presumably left by some more conscientious person in anticipation of the storm.
The standout in the young cast is easily Rachel Sennott, the star of 2021’s squirm comedy Shiva Baby. Sennott plays Alice, a relatively benign, if easily excitable, party girl whose dippy additions to conversations always seem to come a half-second later than they should. (I also like how she keeps adding glow sticks as necklaces the longer the night goes on.) She seems the nicest of the bunch—until one of the friends is exposed for hate-listening to Alice’s podcast and her claws come out too.
As a Clue-inspired generational satire, Bodies Bodies Bodies doesn’t want you to root for anyone, anyway, but simply suspect them. The movie is a hate-watch thriller that scoffs at its characters as much as you do.
(8/8/2022)
