ONE WAY OR ANOTHER // A FILM REVIEW OF "#LIKE"
The feminist revenge thriller has existed for decades, but #LIKE attempts to put a new spin on it, taking the social media world and placing it into a classic revenge tale. Sarah Rich plays Rosie, a teen who's mourning the death of her younger sister Amelia, who died a year before. For months, Rosie has been trying to crack into Amelia's online account, knowing that she was bullied online and thinking she may be able to find some clues on who was responsible. Once she's able to access her account, she finds the online predator who pushed Amelia into her unfortunate fate. She takes this information to a Police Officer who state they can't help her. Frustrated, she decides to do the hunting herself and ends up finding a man at a gas station (Marc Menchaca) whom she feels must be the person she's looking for. So she draws him to her home, drugs and kidnaps him. Once that happens, things begin to go horribly wrong very, very quickly.
Writer/Director Sarah Pirozek has some very good intentions here and it is absolutely vital that films address sexual violence, assault and the lack of accountability the law often grants the abuser. However, unlike the main heroine in the far superior film PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN, Rosie doesn't think any of her decisions through and only acts on impulse. Which is somewhat understandable, since she is a teenager. But for a film aiming to make a statement about sexual assault and the danger of anonymous men online, the message ends up muddy and unclear. For starters, the "evidence" Rosie comes up with is so bad that it can't even really be called evidence. Here's what she discovers: The online predator listens to rock music. The guy she sees at the gas station is listening to rock music. Check. Her sister made dreamcatchers. The man has a dreamcatcher in his truck. Check Check. He smiles at a child playing near his truck and seems to take a picture of the kid. This one could be very creepy if true, but it's fairly clear from the way its shot that he's not actually taking a pic of the child (spoiler alert: he's taking a picture of the picnic table). This is everything she needs to convince herself that he is the one who terrorized her sister online and all the evidence she needs to kidnap him.
If you've seen even one revenge thriller, you'll sadly be able to guess every single turn Rosie is about to make long before she makes it. Every "twist" the screenplay tries to throw your way, you'll see a mile away. Which makes rooting for Rosie and condemning the unnamed man pretty difficult. What makes revenge thrillers so captivating is rooting for a protagonist who may do things that you shouldn't root for (like, say, kidnapping) but the villain in the story is so bad you find yourself forgiving any bad behavior. However, it's quite clear from Rosie's lack of a real investigation that some (if not all) of her "evidence" is 100% wrong and she very well may have kidnapped an innocent man. Also not helping matters is some truly awful dialogue and the unfortunate decision to write Rosie not as a powerful young girl seeking revenge but instead as an impulsive, explosive teen who literally grabs the first man who looks questionable in her opinion and says, "Eh, I think you're the one!" In the end, what are we supposed to be taking away as a message? The unnamed man, not Rosie, is the one you end up feeling for in the film and that's a problem. It does a disservice to anyone who's been affected by sexual assault and the need to find answers. Clearly we need films pointing out the uneven dynamics of men and woman and the power structure that desperately needs to change, as well as the dangers of trusting unseen men online. But this film seems to do it all wrong. It's unfortunate, as the two leads, Sarah Rich and Marc Menchaca, both turn in strong performances with what they are given. In the end, #LIKE feels like a bad parody of the genre they should be championing.
GRADE: D
WRITTEN AND DIRECTED BY Sarah Pirozek STARRING Sarah Rich, Marc Menchaca, Dakota Lustick. OPENING JANUARY 26th IN DIGITAL CINEMAS AND VOD EVERYWHERE.