'You Should Have Left' Review
R: Some violence, disturbing images, sexual content and language Runtime: 1 Hour and 33 MinutesProduction Companies: Blumhouse ProductionsDistributor: Universal PicturesDirector: David KoeppWriter: David KoeppCast: Kevin Bacon, Amanda SeyfriedRelease Date: June 19, 2020Man, Universal. At first, I thought you guys were being bold game changers by actively sending your theatrical features to PVOD because of COVID-19, but now you’re just dumping shit. This movie wasn’t even on anyone’s radar until last Friday when Universal said, “Screw it, we got a new Blumhouse movie ready to go. Let’s do all its marketing and press on its release week!” By watching David Koepp’s latest feature, You Should Have Left, based on the novel of the same name by Daniel Kehlmann, you can tell they didn’t give two shits about this movie. You know what? PVOD was the best route they could’ve taken.
Theo Conroy (Bacon) is a successful middle-aged man whose marriage to his much younger actress wife, Susanna (Seyfried) is shredding at the seams, frayed by her secretiveness, his jealousy, and the shadow of his past. In an effort to repair their relationship, Theo and Susanna book a vacation at a stunning, remote modern home in the Welsh countryside for themselves and their six-year-old daughter, Ella (Avery Essex). What at first seems like a perfect retreat distorts into a perfect nightmare when Theo's grasp on reality begins to unravel and he suspects that a sinister force within the house knows more than he or Susanna have revealed, even to each other.
The narrative focuses on a man named Theo Conroy (Bacon), who is a rather enticing character. For one, he must confront his past by going through the ringer in a house that unveils all of his secrets, but it’s Kevin Bacon’s fantastic performance that really holds the picture together. He’s Kevin Bacon. He’s one of those actors who’s really friggin’ good no matter what he stars in. He does a great job solely carrying the movie. Despite his character being somewhat of an archetype of other lead male characters in psychological thrillers, he provides sincerity and sympathy with this role. He’s great alongside Amanda Seyfried, who portrays his much younger wife, Susanna. The two leads share an interesting dynamic that thrives within the age disparity. Susanna is a busy actress who acts like your stereotypical millennial, always engaged in her phone rather than her surroundings, and Theo is trying to keep his aggressiveness in control. The two feel like a real dysfunctional couple and watching their terrible chemistry onscreen is engaging. What can I say? I just love watching trash sometimes. It’s the only thing that piqued my interest during the first half of this slogfest. They have a terrible relationship that leads to unnecessary drama, only to build up towards Susanna briefly leaving the movie. It’s a shame Seyfried isn’t given much to do because the movie becomes more of a thrill ride during her brief absence. It’s as if the film went, “Did Amanda Seyfried get out of the house? Is she gone?”
From the moment Susanna leaves, the fun ensues, for the major star of the picture comes alive: the house. That Welsh house steals the show. All the set pieces take place within the interiors of this mundane, run-down house. Even though you know it’s on that infamously low Blumhouse budget, director David Koepp makes it fun through some thrilling camerawork and decent editing. By the time it all comes together for climax, which hits on some weird sci-fi elements, I was fully engaged. From a filmmaking standpoint, it’s really entertaining. It’s a shame the story wasn’t executed on the same caliber.
When you think of the concept of a psychological thriller set in a creepy vacation site — where the house has the ability to psychologically screw with people, blurring the lines between imagination and reality — what’s the first movie that comes to mind? Chances are your first answer, or even your second, was The Shining. Even if someone vaguely says, “psychological thriller set in a house,” you become General Disarray from South Park and scream, “Stephen did it!” Every other movie that attempts to follow suit with that concept ends up as a forgettable feature cast in the shadow of The Shining. You Should Have Left falls into that category. After the movie, I researched the novel to see what set it apart from The Shining. Apparently, the answer is, “not much,” for even the author was vocal about this being completely influenced by The Shining. What made the novel so fascinating was its first-person perspective, along with the narrative focusing on a man who must confront the sins of his past. The book was entirely told through the narrator’s perspective. This movie, on the other hand, executes the narrative as if it was told from a third person’s point of view. Because of that, it feels as formulaic as another Shining clone. I’m glad Bacon doesn’t go full Nicholson and fully shines as this dimensional character, but the way the narrative is executed doesn’t allow him or the progression of his story arc to stand out, let alone become fully developed.
The film spends so much time meddling through the seams to reveal bits and pieces of Theo’s past that you’re able to address it faster than the film itself can. I kid you not, the only way the movie reveals information regarding Theo is through his daughter, Ella. I think I found a new personal pet peeve in movies: precocious kids between the ages of 5 and 8 being way too perceptive of the situation around them and speaking as a means to further the plot or the lead’s arc. The actress who plays Ella, Avery Essex, is good. She’s cute and delivers her lines as adorably as a 6-year-old could, but her dialogue throws me off, for she asks specific morbid questions for the sake of adding to the film’s eerie atmosphere or inciting exposition. Seriously, pick a lane. It’s such a lazy route to take for the story to get to its intended destinations.Although its runtime hits 93 minutes, it takes far too long for the pace to pick up and the narrative in the first half doesn’t contribute anything relevant to the script. While the dysfunctionality of the relationship between Theo and Susanna felt real because of the generational disparity, neither of them are likable characters. Susanna isn’t given much to do and Seyfried is exerting herself the best she can. The major cardinal sin of You Should Have Left is that it’s predictable and formulaic, but it confidently treats itself as if it isn’t. Despite some entertaining set pieces, the film does nothing to excite or thrill you. It’s just… there. By the 30-minute mark, you’re able to predict where the narrative is going and what the reveal will be. The audience clearly sees the light and while we’re already holding it in our grasp, Koepp keeps running around it for an hour and a half. The best you can do is watch from the sidelines as he takes 8th place in his own story. The execution itself is rather uneven, for the first half is poorly paced with slow, uneventful scenes and unnecessary conflict that don’t attribute to any importance outside of Theo being an asshole, and the second half is a fast-paced psychological “thrill ride” that’s still tropey and riddled with plot holes. STUPID plotholes. STUPID PLOTHOLES that made me pause the movie and scream, “WHAT?! WHY?!”All in all, you should treat You Should Have Left the same way its distributor, Universal, did — as a forgettable thriller that will escape your mind as quickly as it took Universal to market and release this movie.Rating: 2.5/5 | 51%
