Would You Rather (2013)

Someone thought that movies like Cube, Chariot, and Redline were all leaving something on the table. Their somewhat implausible stories were still too realistic, and the whole thing needed more pizzazz! So, we will have a secret society of millionaires billionaires quardrillionaires to bring in people who have no money are are in the midst of hard times who will endure pain and hardship for the entertainment of the rich few in hopes of getting some of that sweet, precious money.

Our hero is a girl who needs help with her brother's medical bills, her own bills, and getting her life back on track. She is invited to a dinner party with a bunch of other people who are similarly in need of assistance, and it is revealed to them all that they will eat and then there will be a game that will result in one of them winning and living a life of wealth while the others will most likely die. Everyone is given a time limit to decide if they will do the action that they are tasked with - which is usually hurting someone else at the table - and the choice is enforced by mostly nameless goons.

You have some people who are good and don't want to hurt anyone, you have some who are too easily prodded into doing it, and you have some who openly enjoy it. The story is supposed to be about their struggle with their inner selves, the circumstances, and ultimately the attempt of good to overcome evil. In these relatively low budget versions of this story, evil often unsatisfyingly wins, good unsatisfyingly wins, or the game just continues on forever, emotionlessly.

The problem is that the effect that the outcome has on the audience depends entirely on how we associate with the inner turmoil of the characters on screen. The actors have to be good enough, and the script needs to be solid enough for us to project ourselves into the situation and consequently hope for the hero's success. We have to put ourselves in their shoes and wonder what we would do in those circumstances.

In this version of the story, we don't. The characters are too cookie-cutter, and the villain is laughably written by Steffen Schlachtenhaufen and horribly played by Jeffrey Combs. This is the problem - all of the acting was pretty much crap. All of the characters were pretty much crap. How can you have a good movie when it seems like these are TV actors who figure this is going to be a movie that will be shown in the middle of the night on a discount cable station twice before never being heard from again?

Acting was crap
Story was utter nonsense
Directing was crap
Effects were marginal
Dialogue was crap

Bottom Line: I wasted my time, so you don't waste yours. How did this get 5.8/10 on IMDB?

0.75/5