What begins is a post apocalyptic thriller akin to M. Night Shyamalan's The Happening (2008) or Susanne Bier's Bird Box (2018). However, director Jorge Ameer switches gears and suggests that this film might instead be a dystopian, science-fiction tale in the vein of 12 Monkeys (1995) or even perhaps a less action-driven version of The Terminator (1984). There's even a scene here that mimics that Arnold Schwarzenegger classic where a man who time travels from the future arrives totally naked. Yet, that thread gets rather abandoned.
A third of the way through this piece, it becomes clear that Ameer is going more for a political satire, more in line with Don't Look Up (2021). Ameer doesn't lean as much into the comedy that writer-director Adam McKay did for that Oscar-nominated feature. There are moments of humor, but they are few and far between. The level of comedy is actually on the same level as McKay's Vice (2018), which attempted to be more even-keeled in its dissection of certain political figures. At times though, Ameer veers into the ridiculousness that was Don't Look Up. Instead of climate change, which was the veiled subject of that 2021 flick, Ameer is tackling several topics that consumed the latter part of Donald Trump's first term as President, topics like the COVID-19 pandemic.
Oran Stainbrook (Frisky) stars as Alex Feretti, a political consultant in Texas who is working on the re-election campaign of a U.S. Senator. It's never stated, but the Senator is presumably a Republican, one who has been against LGBTQ rights. When the film opens, Alex is toasting his gay father at the 10-year anniversary to Alex's stepfather. Given the Senator's obvious homophobia or sheer disdain or dismissal of gay people, it's weird that Alex who comes from a gay parent would ever work for this Senator in the first place. However, the Senator is there because Alex's father is a scientist and the Senator needs his help, regarding the outbreak of a pandemic.
Danny Fehsenfeld (The Young and the Restless and How To Get Away With Murder) plays Senator Ted DeMarcos, the right-wing politician for whom Alex works. It's obvious that DeMarcos is supposed to be a caricature for real-life U.S. Senator Ted Cruz who ran against Trump in the 2016 election but who eventually endorsed him. In this film, DeMarcos is not only a take on Cruz but also becomes a Trump surrogate or equivalent, mimicking talking points associated with Trump, particularly in the 2020 election and the lead up to the January 6 attack at the U.S. Capitol Building. Here though, Demarcos is a hard-core anti-vaxxer, as well as hard-core homophobic.
Fehsenfeld isn't doing a caricature like Meryl Streep in Don't Look Up. Instead, Fehsenfeld's performance feels deadly serious as if he's playing the villain in a James Bond movie. I suppose the joke of it all is that people compared Trump to a fascist like Vladimir Putin or said Trump behaved akin to a corrupt dictator, so this film decides simply to make the Trump-equivalent, that of DeMarcos, into an actual fascist figure. Yet, Ameer doesn't play it as humorous. If one finds it funny, then it's only through kitsch.
Ameer could have been going for a tone similar to Armando Iannucci's The Death of Stalin (2017). Iannucci played off certain absurdities, while still incorporating the horror of the situation. Ameer's gag becomes what if these American politicians actually turned into fascists. Yet, there's no punch line. He doesn't really play with the absurdities. Mainly, it's due to the fact that there is no play to be made. What occurs are simply things that real-life politicians have said, so there is no joke here. The only exception involves a scene where Oscar-nominee Eric Roberts (Runaway Train and The Dark Knight) plays a victim to this film's version of COVID-19. There's also a pun regarding the name of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis that was silly, but more of a throwaway.
Matt Fling also co-stars as Joe Feretti, the father to Alex and this film's version of Dr. Anthony Fauci. The film isn't really spoofing him. There is a scene that directly takes aim at the criticism about Fauci and the perceived miscommunication about the COVID-19 pandemic. That scene was effective, as an isolated moment. Joe is also supposed to be this brilliant neurologist but he's given a long monologue in which he only spews rhetorical questions and never says anything truly insightful about neurology. Again, that scene isn't played for comedy. Its tone feels like it's supposed to be serious. Joe also feels like he's meant to be more the heart of the film. It was nice to have a queer character in the center of this genre picture, which is often lacking in Hollywood productions.
Rounding out the cast is Joseph DeMatteo who plays Gary Becker, a time-traveler who arrives nude from the future. Unlike Schwarzenegger's character in The Terminator, Gary never attempts to find clothing to wear. This itself could be a joke. Yet, the fact that there's this nudist walking around in broad daylight is again never really played for laughs. Unlike Schwarzenegger's character, Gary disappears for the majority of this film. His presence seems to be only to add some homoeroticism, which is titillating, but this film could have been more of the farce that Dr. Strangelove (1964) was, but Ameer perhaps had different intentions.
Not Rated but contains bloody violence and full-frontal male nudity.
Running Time: 2 hrs.
Premiering on May 21 at the Cannes Film Festival.
Coming soon to VOD and digital platforms.
