Thoroughbreds

SPOILER: Thoroughbreds was quite a bit to process for me. On the surface, it's a story about young would-be murderers who are plotting to kill a stepfather in a WASPy Connecticut setting. Symbolically, it's a story about free will and letting go of all inhibitions. Amanda teaches Lily that committing a murder is all about getting away from yourself and focusing on the goal. Throughout the film, they relate it to how Steve Jobs dropped out of college and founded his own computer company. Strange and satirical, for sure. Cooke and Joy are a fabulous duo.

The pacing of the film is even more off-putting. Also, despite being advertised as a comedy, Thoroughbreds is so matter of fact and grim, I couldn't decipher what was supposed to be funny from what was supposed to be dead serious. That was entirely the point, but I found myself scratching my head more than enjoying the nuance.

This film is incredbily entertaining and intriguing from beginning to end. Our two lead actresses both give fantastic performances, as wealthy teenage girls from suburban Connecticut. The story unfolds in a very interesting way and the ending left me satisifed. The cameraweork is stunning, and the direction is great, especially for a directorial debut. It manages to be both comedic and dark and balances the tone quite well. There is one plot line including Anton Yelich that I would have liked to see wrapped up a little better, but it definietely does not take away from the overall enjoyment of the film. This film is intriguing and brings a much-needed spin to a genre that often produces subpar films. You should definitely go watch Thoroughbreds, you will not be dissapointed.

Apparently it was very upsetting to a lot of reviewers here that they found this in the comedy section of their local Red Box or whatever, saw two peppy looking teen girls on the cover, and had severe overreactions when they discovered that this movie "misled". It seems so strange to me that people continue to blind-watch movies and then get mad at the movie for not being what they convinced themselves the movie was about. You would have spent just as long watching a trailer or reading a one paragraph synopsis or review as you did coming back here to leave an awful review trashing a movie for your own mistake, but then I guess you'd have to admit that the problem was on your end.

Look, this is NOT a comedy. There are a few dry laughs here and there, but this is absolutely not a movie you want to watch for the laughs. This is a drama and it's one that deals with some pretty dark subjects. Unfortunately, it's hard to talk about what the point of this movie is without giving everything away. Let's just say it's the story of a friendship that forms between two very disturbed young women which takes a look at the darker side of human nature along the way. It's surprising, disturbing, and also surprisingly touching at times.

If you're not a complete fool that's looking for teen comedy in all the wrong places, give this a try, you might find yourself very surprised. I'd give it an 8 or a 9, but I'm going to go ahead and give it a 10 just to balance out all the triggered whiners giving it 1's for no good reason.

I'm not sure this movie classifies as a comedy film. It's a light movie, but it's more serious than funny if you ask me. I really love this indie movie, and I watched it because of Anya Taylor-Joy. She did phenomenal and so did Olivia Cooke.

More indie films like this! (:

I wanted to like this film. But overall it is fairly poor. The only standout is return to "shining" type cam shots and visuals. These were interesting as novelty when introduced 40 years ago, but were dropped from good filmmaking for good reason.

Ultimately this will appeal to filmgoers who like to be manipulated by technique instead of told a story. Even the deus ex machine ending is such a cop out that everyone left the screening shaking their heads.