What You Wish For Reviews (original) (raw)
Summary Ryan (Nick Stahl) is a talented, down-on-his-luck chef with crushing gambling problems. Circumstances being what they are, he leaves town in a hurry for the safe haven of an unnamed Latin American country where his friend Jack (Brian Groh), a more prestigious chef with his own unique troubles, welcomes him into his home. Ryan has no idea...
My Score
Hover and click to give a rating Saved
Summary Ryan (Nick Stahl) is a talented, down-on-his-luck chef with crushing gambling problems. Circumstances being what they are, he leaves town in a hurry for the safe haven of an unnamed Latin American country where his friend Jack (Brian Groh), a more prestigious chef with his own unique troubles, welcomes him into his home. Ryan has no idea...
What You Wish For is everything you could wish for in a well-lit plunge into the abyss. The script’s condemnation of the class system is much more potent than the overrated, sneering misfire The Menu.
Without straining to make an obvious point, Mr. Tomnay uses black comedy and shocking splatters of gore to tweak the class of jaded plutocrats who are as asset-rich as they are morals-poor.
Writer-director Nicholas Tomnay knows how to make maximum use of plot twists that keep an audience on its toes, and Nick Stahl is a skillful master of how to move the gore with exactly the right pace to exude charm in spite of his character’s ongoing toxicity.
Stahl’s acting has always had a quiet power, communicating roiling emotional distress under an often vaguely menacing stillness. This gives a fresh perspective to Ryan’s eventual impotence as he negotiates his new identity.
What You Wish For posits that the cycle of working for an evil, self-righteous entity never stops.
Filmmaker Nicholas Tomnay’s sophomore feature percolates with atmospheric dread and austerity, but only superficially explores the twisted amorality of the 1% and those who service their whims. While not always successful in cooking up tantalizing commentary on human behavior, it offers a decent helping of Hitchcockian intrigue.
Though it assembles some of the right ingredients before laying them out before you, it never proceeds to arrange them in any particularly interesting or entertaining way.
An odd and surprising movie. The location was nice. The acting wasn't that great, but it wasn't that bad either. The story moved along, even though I didn't really know what was going on until the end, which, I guess, was the point. We'd rate this: "go ahead and watch it because there are a lot of movies worse than this one."
Production Company Evergreen Avenue, Jaguar Bite, Freestyle Picture Company
Release Date May 31, 2024
Duration 1 h 41 m
Tagline Escape. Forever.
Grimmfest
• 4 Wins & 4 Nominations
A Night of Horror International Film Festival
• 1 Win & 1 Nomination
Celluloid Screams - Sheffield Horror Film Festival
• 1 Win & 1 Nomination