Windfall is an unusual film. An unusual hostage situation but I suppose anything with Jesse Plemons has the potential to be weird. I knew I was going to love it once I saw his face. In my mind, I don't think I could have ever predicted a situation where he'd have to play the rich husband of Lily Colin's from 'Emily in Paris' but here we are. I've only ever watched her in this role so I was pleasantly surprised to see her play a more serious and somewhat sophisticated role.
This film starts off pretty mellow, light and airy. But I suppose films with big homes and rich people give off that false sense of comfort and ease. I thought that it was going to be pure comedy, you know like dark comedy but when I checked Netflix after watching for a few mins and saw that it stresses the thriller aspect of it with no comedy in the tags, I had to brace myself for impact. With thriller, there is blood and pain and I wondered just when I would get to collide with it.
Jesse and Lily are a couple who stops at their rich home for a quick romantic get away before heading off to where they were really meant to be. Unknown to them, there is an intruder already waiting there. Jason Segel plays the role of an amateur burglar who only intended to steal a little and be on his way. Just as he was about to step out of the front door, Lily sees him and he has no choice but to return back to organize this unusual hostage situation.
I've already alluded to the weirdness that Jesse Plemons brings to films and this one was no different. So instead of a frantic plea and bargain situation with weapons, we find these people engage in conversation and sit together as they discuss how best to navigate the situation. It feels like a business meeting with irritated stakeholders who don't understand why their captor is wasting their time with his nativity. These people actually help Jason to make hunger estimates of the money he needs to extort from them to live a decent life because he grossly underestimates this sum.
It would have ended in this quiet and almost normal looking bargain if Jason had not found cameras on his way out. That's when things began to get more sinister. He had to return to spend time(an extra day) with them as they waited for Jesse's PA to deliver half a million dollars. In this time, we begin to see the cracks in Jesse's and Lily's relationship and an awakening of something dark in Lily. It was at this point that my idea of who would actually cause this film to become a thriller shifted. You've got to watch this to know :)
I rate this film a 10/10 because it was so well executed. The pacing was perfect, the cast were a fav and the dialogue in the context I have mentioned was so unexpected, it kept me glued to my screen.
