Director: Derrick Borte
Writers: Thomas Perry, Derrick Borte, Daniel Forte
Stars: Russell Crowe, Luke Evans, Teresa Palmer
Synopsis: A nightclub owner is on the verge of leaving his dangerous past behind for retirement. After masked gunmen rob him and he finds himself squeezed by ruthless cartels, a mysterious newcomer arrives with an interest in buying the business.
Not every film is aiming to break new ground. Instead, they go with an elevator pitch style. “It’s like Inception meets Pulp Fiction!” It is understandable that prospective audiences (and producers) would get excited by statements like these. After all, new ideas are risky, especially in a culture driven by nostalgia and recognition. This is not to say those movies, clearly inspired by their respective favorites, are without merit. In fact, there is a relaxing quality to these films in the age of streaming, where comfort and relatability can be paramount.
The Get Out, directed by Derrick Borte, is not breaking any new ground, and most likely will not be remembered a few hours after watching. It follows Marco Kapak (Russell Crowe), an Albanian immigrant who has been wildly successful and is the owner of a nightclub. He plans to retire, in style, with his much younger girlfriend, Sunny (Teresa Palmer), but everything is thrown into upheaval when he is robbed on the way to the bank by Jeff (Aaron Paul), for reasons unknown. Things start to unravel due to his connection with a criminal cartel, initially represented by Rodriguez (Danny Zovatto).
The ideas presented by screenwriters Derrick Borte and Daniel Forte (from a book by Thomas Perry) are nothing new, but there are moments that stick. Frankly, this movie completely falls apart with Russell Crowe. Despite making his career originally as a dramatic actor, his relatively recent forays into comedy have been pretty impressive. Obviously, nothing is touching The Nice Guys, and this never comes close, but Crowe is clearly having a blast. The Albanian accent may not be accurate, but it does allow for repeated funny moments throughout. Unfortunately, the film never focuses fully on comedy, instead attempting to balance the tones with a madcap crime caper.
However, Borte and cinematographer Brendan Galvin do have an excellent handle on the limited action setpieces in The Get Out. In particular, there are two scenes that stand out. In the first, Galvin films a high speed car chase after Marco has been robbed. For just a moment, the film feels like it has real energy and an action pedigree. Later, without spoiling anything, there is an extended shootout and attempted assassination that shows an understanding of action geography that was unexpected in a movie this small scale. But still, when it dives into the goofiness, it has the audience on its side.
This is especially true when the character of Carrie (Nina Dobrev), a bank teller who quickly figures out what Jeff is up to. She makes for a good pair with Aaron Paul who plays buttoned up and overwhelmed well. Dobrev, on the other hand, is practically giddy with sexual excitement at the chance to rob absolutely anyone and live out her Point Break fantasies. She also manages to deal with more difficult emotions when things go sideways (like they always do), even if the script demands that she and Jeff are constantly in ridiculous situations.
Unfortunately, all of this is surrounded by a necessary, but plodding plot point of an undercover federal agent tracking Marco in the hopes that they can find information about the cartel. The agent, Joe Carver (Luke Evans) is saddled with most of this work, which of course crosses over with the Jeff and Carrie storyline, even if it feels forced and awkward. Evans performs admirably, especially when singing karaoke, but there is only so much to be done with a hackneyed undercover cop routine.
The Get Out manages to be just entertaining enough to muddle through its quick runtime. Crowe and Dobrev uplift some questionable material, even when the film attempts to pluck emotional heartstrings. Those moments don’t hit very hard, but the audience at least understands the emotions that they are supposed to feel. Crowe especially, is such a seasoned performer that he can manage to pull us along the expected plot points and make us all at least chuckle along the way. The Get Out is frankly the perfect movie to catch on streaming to fill a few hours.
