It’s What’s Inside

Rating 3/10

The “party game gone wrong” becomes even more of a trope with this umpteenth variation.

Shelby (Brittany O’Grady) and her boyfriend Cyrus (James Morosini) arrive at a posh mansion to celebrate Reuben (Devon Terrell) on the eve of his impending marriage. The pre-wedding gathering includes Dennis (Gavin Leatherwood), Nikki (Alycia Debnam-Carey), Brooke (Reina Hardesty), and Maya (Nina Bloomgarden). Tensions arise with the arrival of Forbes (David W. Thompson). The estranged friend hasn’t been seen since an infamous bash of college. He was expelled for bringing his underaged sister to the soiree. Beatrice (Madison Davenport) was obsessed with Dennis and was later admitted to a mental institution.

Forbes has brought a mysterious device that allows them to switch bodies. The group tentatively agrees to play a game where they must guess who is inhabiting whose anatomy. As the night unfolds, identities blur not only to the characters but also to the growing frustration of the audience. Secrets and unresolved desires surface, and the lighthearted reunion descends into chaos.

Writer-director Greg Jardin’s grand conceit is introducing a body-exchanging machine to the proceedings but neglects a coherent screenplay to examine the idea correctly. These are nothing more than self-involved adults stuck in arrested development, driven by lust and desire. There’s little to distinguish one individual from the next beyond a predisposition for infidelity. When the bodies swap, the personality change is indistinguishable, so the shifts are meaningless and uninteresting. Furthermore, these people are uniformly unpleasant, so there are no stakes. At one point, two people fall from a balcony while having sex naturally, and it’s confusing whether it’s their physical frame that dies or the spirit inside them. Regardless, I didn’t care. No, scratch that. I was thrilled because there were now two less annoying personalities to occupy this space. I hoped it would continue.

This get-together plummets in more ways than one. The idea has been explored so many times before. Coherence (2013), The One I Love (2014), and The Invitation (2015) are all more intelligent than this.  Talk to Me (2023) is scarier.  Game Night (2018) is funnier, so there’s really no reason to watch this poor man’s take unless you’re a Netflix masochist and must see every mediocre movie the streaming service releases. Use those 103 minutes to see a better film.

10-14-24