Deadly Invitations (2024)

Deadly Invitations (2024). 1h 29m

“This movie gets kind of aggravating as it lumbers along mainly for the inane machinations of the daughter character. So hearing that (above) dialogue when it happened did let out a much needed laugh from me.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eWith how so very on the nose the villain had been the entire movie and never giving the girl any reason to trust him (yet she does anyway), just hearing the naive, gullible, and rebellious dumb dumb being called out for it was cathartic. It alleviated just enough of my frustration that I even chose to write this review.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eMy GRIPES:u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003e– 1. Big coincidence that the mom and daughter happen to move in right across the street from a neighbor that is somewhat involved with the same secret club killing people movie plot that the mother ends up investigating.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eAnd that the she already had an interest in them beforehand (as revealed by the mural of pictures in her closet from their move-in day and that she bugged their home within only minutes of meeting them) ***u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003e– 2. Smiley tells the girl that SHE CAN get close to the club owners because she is NEW and they like her, but also that HE CANu0026#39;T because he is NEW so they donu0026#39;t trust him yet…. Okay? So SHE CAN because she is NEW, but HE CANu0026#39;T because he is NEW. And this reasoning somehow makes sense to her.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003e– 3. Incompetent police threatens to arrest the victim who was drugged, rather than check the neighboru0026#39;s phone for proof that pictures were taken.***u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003e– 4. Also once the daughter is aware that her mother is actually right in her investigation of the deaths she becomes even more neurotic, uncooperative, and horrible to her mother. Even conspiring against her at one point to inform her even more paranoid and conspiratorial masked love interest.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003e– 5. The daughter attends these secret parties every single night and the mother is never curious about where she is? Nor thinks to follow her even once?u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003e– 6. The mother overhears her daughter secretly telling the bad guy she crushes on about her motheru0026#39;s meeting with a woman, and then after she is attacked and the woman is killed it NEVER occurs to her (or to anyone for that matter) the obvious connection there?! ***u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003e– 7. THEN the daughter invites the guy that just tried to kill her mom over for some 50 Shades of Grey time (still having not connected those dots).u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003e– 8. And the daughteru0026#39;s last hair-brain move at the end climax is just peak. Totally on brand with how she has been the whole movie. My nominee for the 2024 u0026quot;Darwin Awardu0026quot;.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003e*** Iu0026#39;m aware that some of these are recontextualized by surprise reveals toward the end. Still doesnu0026#39;t negate the initial impression on first watch. ***u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eAnd some big convenient coincidences around the neighboru0026#39;s role in the film just really donu0026#39;t hold together on second watch once youu0026#39;re aware of everything.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eI think it wouldu0026#39;ve worked better if she wasnu0026#39;t a neighbor at all and didnu0026#39;t draw any interest in them until AFTER she took notice of the daughter at the club… and then she meets the mom… then bugs the house… then she talks cryptically on the phone to whomever about how u0026quot;Sheu0026#39;ll work out perfectly.u0026quot;u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThat wouldu0026#39;ve made the outcomes opportunistic rather than the u0026quot;boy were we lucky yu0026#39;all happen to move in where you did, when you did, how you did, and on the day right after an accident happened coincidentally where and how your husband died, and that youu0026#39;d investigate it for us, and that you had a dumb young hot daughter who would most likely stumble her way into the very seedy club we wanted her tou0026quot; way it is now.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eUltimately its very much like a Lifetime movie and with many of the usual tropes youu0026#39;ve seen:u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eMysterious offscreen deaths, over-stressed mother/wife, rebellious-just-cuz daughter, a nosey neighbor, red herrings, drugged beverages, many people going unconscious (and often), incompetent cops, mystery villain reveal, a climatic rundown of each of the villainu0026#39;s evildoings throughout the film, and the u0026#39;in a hurry to end the movie alreadyu0026#39; ending.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003e(Only missing are the u0026#39;someone wields a kitchen knifeu0026#39;, u0026#39;the murdered the best friendu0026#39;, u0026#39;how about some teau0026#39;, and u0026#39;you should get some restu0026#39; tropes).”