Movie Review: Greta (2018)

Synopsis: Still mourning the loss of her mother and upset with her father for moving on so quickly, Boston native Frances McCullen moves to New York and shares a flat with her friend/roommate Erica while working as a waitress. While riding the subway, she notices a purse left on one of the seats and returns it to its widowed owner, Greta. 

Despite Erica's objections, Frances befriends and begins spending a lot of time with Greta, seeing the older woman as a surrogate mother. However, after Frances discovers evidence of the purse being left behind on purpose, her efforts to end the friendship result in Greta stalking her and growing increasingly unstable. 

Who's in it? The movie stars Chloë Grace Moretz, Isabelle Huppert, Maika Monroe, Jane Perry and Jeff Hiller.

Review: I took yesterday afternoon off (a decision that was made before the Microsoft Outlook implosion would have made my day job impossible anyway) and since my wife decided to come home after work rather than go to her sewing studio, we had time to watch a movie. I picked Greta because it looked interesting and it turned out to be a good choice.

The thing I liked best about this film is how it lets the viewer know just enough about Greta (Huppert) to know she is unhinged and probably dangerous but also leaves out just enough details about her past to make it unclear just how much of what she has said about herself is true and to what level she would stoop. This makes her a deceptively good antagonist as a result. On the surface, a quick glance would have someone questioning if she could even hurt a fly but as the move progresses, it is easy to see why Frances (Moretz) is being driven nearly insane as she feels the need to look around every corner.

That scene involving Greta stalking Erica (Monroe) while sending photos to Frances was also surprisingly intense as a result of this. It was unclear if she was just doing it to get inside Frances' head or if she would have taken things further and harmed Erica had Frances not intervened but either way, the decision to document the stalking with photos was as brazen as you can get.

I also loved how the movie set up subtle clues about Greta's end game and her plans for Frances, starting with the identical purses with various phone numbers associated with them to the strange noises coming from the other side of Greta's piano and the vague reason her daughter committed suicide. A lot of thrillers tend to be a bit lazy with setups like that, and it was refreshing to see a film that took the time to include the details.

My biggest complaint about this film, other than what happened to the poor dog, is it does seem to go out of its way to paint New York in a bad light. This includes everything from the police doing almost nothing to protect Frances, even after she was physically attacked in public (to the point a private detective had to be hired), to her manager (Hiller) showing zero empathy for her when Greta shows up as a customer and Frances tells him she doesn't want to be her server. It made me wonder if the writers had a bad experience while visiting the city and were letting that bias show.

Final Opinion: It is a solid thriller with a surprisingly deceptive antagonist (albeit one that got a lot of help from inept police and a protagonist who doesn't think door locks that need a key to be opened from the inside isn't a red flag). I enjoyed watching it and would recommend it.

My Grade: A

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Here are some reviews of other movies from 2018:

Movie Review: When Angels Sleep (2018)

Movie Review: The Equalizer 2 (2018)

Movie Review: Andre the Giant (2018)

Movie Review: D-Railed (2018)