As usual on Friday night, there were several new release that I could opt to see. After few considerations, I chose to watch this one that was released on Netflix which had pretty intriguing premise. Without further ado, here's more on the film.

Brief Story Line

A group of former college best friends were having a reunion the night before one of them Reuben (Devon Terrel - Cursed TV series, Barry etc) got married. They consisted of Shelby (Brittany O'Grady - The White Lotus TV series, Sometimes I Think About Dying etc) and her boyfriend Cyrus (James Morosini - I Love My Dad etc), the well known influencer Nikki (Alycia Debnam-Carey - Fear the Walking Dead TV series etc), Dennis (Gavin Leatherwood - Chilling Adventures of Sabrina TV series etc), Maya (Nina Bloomgarden - Good Girl Jane etc) and Brooke (Reina Hardesty - Greenhouse Academy TV series etc).

When they were reminiscing the past, it was found out that one of their old friend Forbes (David W. Thompson - Fear Street Part One: 1994 etc) was also invited despite their past indifference related to his younger sister Beatrice (Madison Davenport - From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series etc). Forbes ultimately did join the reunion where he brought something in a suitcase which would have a lot of implications to the group.

So what was actually in the suitcase and how would the story conclude? You could find out in this movie.

End of Brief Story Line

Honestly, I had a bit of doubt when I started watching considering it was not having any major well known names and the very early part was not too promising either. Once the group met though, I got glimpses of some dark humor which made me smiled. But not until Forbes came with the item in his suitcase that things became interesting. And subsequently I was really absorbed with the story and totally curious of what would happen. To my delight, something shocking happened in the middle that made me admired the movie maker. There were some more surprising twists along the way, but the best one was during the final moments. And of course the ending was satisfying for me, although it might not be for all audience.

What made this movie exciting was the fresh idea of combining something that was pretty common in other films & series, but somehow this one took it to the extreme which resulted to a very entertaining story. It was pretty amazing work by the writer/director Greg Jardin whose previous works were mostly short films and music videos. The movie was screened during Sundance Film Festival in early 2024 and from what I read, the rights was acquired by Netflix in the largest deal in that event. I guess Netflix saw the potential of this film especially  since it was highly regarded by critics.

I was not really familar with the cast despite several of them did appear in the series that I watched previously. However, I thought they were pretty decent and their performance were quite good and few were quite convincing in certain roles (you would understand if you watch this). The movie's duration was 103 minutes with closing credits but it did not have any mid or post end credit scenes at all. 

Overall this was a really fun and interesting movie for me. It felt original and fresh with some hints of dark humor and a little bit of science fiction. It also touched several things like relationship and self awareness but more importantly it was enjoyable and the twists were remarkable. I like the film's plot and the story telling. Although to be fair, I was having a little bit of hard time to catch up in the beginning, but when I got better understanding it was truly fun till the end. So if you are interested in trying something like this, I am sure you would be entertained by this movie like it did for me. 

Mike's movie moments rating: 4 out of 5 stars