Movie Review: Emelie (2015)
Synopsis: Dan and Joyce Thompson have plans to celebrate their 13th wedding anniversary but their babysitter, Maggie, is unavailable. Fortunately for them, Maggie's friend, Anna, is able to watch their three kids. What they don't know, however, is Anna is dead and the young woman they left with their kids is actually named Emelie and she seems to have an unhealthy obsession with their youngest son, Christopher.
Who's in it? The movie stars Sarah Bolger, Carly Adams, Joshua Rush, Elizabeth Stillwell and Thomas Bair.
Review: My wife and I recently got hooked on Lucha Underground and have been watching it regularly. However, we were both in the mood for a movie the other night and decided to pick out a thriller. This one looked somewhat interesting so we decided to give it a chance. As it turns out, it fell well short of our expectations.
The film's premise wasn't a bad one. After all, hiring a new babysitter only to find out she's not who she says she is isn't too far-fetched. And, while I would normally expect parents to do a little more research on the person they are hiring, the fact, the two parents (Susan Pourfar and Chris Beetem) seemed almost desperate to get away from their kids made the lack of effort to at least check an ID seem believable.
The problem with this film is it seemed to have a bit of an identity crisis. Rather than focus on Emelie (Bolger) and her desire to kidnap Christopher (Bair), the writers decided to throw in a bunch of confusing plot twists.
For example, I'm still confused about why Emelie felt the need to torture the kids. Her backstory made it seem as though she loved children and was just trying to compensate for the loss of her own son. Yet, when she wasn't feeding one pet to another pet, she was showing the kids a porn movie and crossing a line with the oldest son, Jacob, that looked like it belonged in a Law & Order: Special Victims Unit episode.
At minimum, it just seemed so unnecessary. All she needed to do was act normal long enough for the kids to go to bed and leave with Christopher. All she accomplished by the extra stuff was make it obvious she wasn't who she said she was.
Of course, it also doesn't help that the movie has a major plot hole to start with. How, exactly, did Emelie know Anna was the kids' babysitter? Maggie (Stillwell) was the normal sitter and Anna was a last-second change. Yet, the movie made no attempt to explain this.
Final Opinion: This movie had some real potential but the filmmakers attempted to do too much and ultimately ruined the film as a result. I was pretty disappointed because of this and would not recommend this film.
My Grade: D
Who's in it? The movie stars Sarah Bolger, Carly Adams, Joshua Rush, Elizabeth Stillwell and Thomas Bair.
Review: My wife and I recently got hooked on Lucha Underground and have been watching it regularly. However, we were both in the mood for a movie the other night and decided to pick out a thriller. This one looked somewhat interesting so we decided to give it a chance. As it turns out, it fell well short of our expectations.
The film's premise wasn't a bad one. After all, hiring a new babysitter only to find out she's not who she says she is isn't too far-fetched. And, while I would normally expect parents to do a little more research on the person they are hiring, the fact, the two parents (Susan Pourfar and Chris Beetem) seemed almost desperate to get away from their kids made the lack of effort to at least check an ID seem believable.
The problem with this film is it seemed to have a bit of an identity crisis. Rather than focus on Emelie (Bolger) and her desire to kidnap Christopher (Bair), the writers decided to throw in a bunch of confusing plot twists.
For example, I'm still confused about why Emelie felt the need to torture the kids. Her backstory made it seem as though she loved children and was just trying to compensate for the loss of her own son. Yet, when she wasn't feeding one pet to another pet, she was showing the kids a porn movie and crossing a line with the oldest son, Jacob, that looked like it belonged in a Law & Order: Special Victims Unit episode.
At minimum, it just seemed so unnecessary. All she needed to do was act normal long enough for the kids to go to bed and leave with Christopher. All she accomplished by the extra stuff was make it obvious she wasn't who she said she was.
Of course, it also doesn't help that the movie has a major plot hole to start with. How, exactly, did Emelie know Anna was the kids' babysitter? Maggie (Stillwell) was the normal sitter and Anna was a last-second change. Yet, the movie made no attempt to explain this.
Final Opinion: This movie had some real potential but the filmmakers attempted to do too much and ultimately ruined the film as a result. I was pretty disappointed because of this and would not recommend this film.
My Grade: D
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