Shudder Sunday: The Gift

Director: Joel Edgerton

Year: 2015

Genre: Mystery/Thriller

Summary: A young married couple's lives are thrown into a harrowing tailspin when an acquaintance from the husband's past brings mysterious gifts and seems to have malicious intentions.

4/5 Pineapples

Review:

Jason Bateman (yes, the man we love in Arrested Development, Identity Thief, The Switch, Horrible Bosses and a million other to-die-for comedies) is the PERFECT narcissist in this surprisingly good, complete whirlwind of a film.

People recommend that I watch this film for years, but I never thought I'd be able to take Jason Bateman seriously. When I finally gave in to the requests, I was so surprised and happy that I was wrong about what Jason Bateman was capable of as an actor.

The Gift received a 7.1/10 on IMDb and a contrasting 92% on Rotten Tomatoes. It would appear that the general audience is up-and-down on how they feel about this film, which is surprising to me considering how well wrapped The Gift turned out to be. Pun intended.

The Gift follows Simon (Jason Bateman) and Robyn (Rebecca Hall) who are moving back to Simon's home town for his work. While purchasing new furniture for their beautiful (with a few too many windows) home, Simon is approached by an old "friend" named Gordon (Joel Edgerton, actor and director of this film), AKA Gordo. Initially put off by the cut of Gordo's jib, Simon puts up a friendly demeanor, though he claims to hardly remember Gordo from high school.

Basically, Gordo is a little overzealous about his long-lost friend being back in town, and Simon grows increasingly uncomfortable while Robyn thinks he's just a nice and misunderstood guy that Simon is being too harsh towards.

While we question what IS too nice, too mean, or too uncomfortable, we start to also question Robyn's sanity, Gordo's intentions, and Simon's morals. Robyn and Simon's marriage strains as she tries to decipher what's real, what's just her anxiety, and who's lying.

I love this film for the way it allows the viewer to decide what may or may not have happened to these characters after the credits begin to role.

I've given The Gift a 4/5 because the film definitely took me by surprise with it's ever turning tables, and Jason Bateman blew me away with his never-before-seen by him character, but I don't feel any desire to watch this film again and again.

I'm sorry that I don't have too much more to say on this. The Gift is a film where the build up and the ending truly is everything, so there's not too much I can discuss without spoiling it entirely. The ending is for you to see and you to decide, so I refuse to spoil the intricacies for anyone.

I will say that I don't personally think he did it...

But without further ado, I highly recommend checking this out on Netflix for yourself and then letting me know what you believe did or did not happen!

As always, thanks for reading!