Sam Raimi has a distinctive directorial style that works well for horror, comedy, and horror-comedy. But man, has it been hard to find stuff to see at the local multiplex. These two factors means I saw Send Help, Raimi’s latest starring Rachel McAdams and Dylan O’Brien. I mean, what else was I going to see? A documentary about the sitting First Lady? A sequel to a movie I haven’t seen? I mean, I really like Raimi’s work, so this one was a no-brainer. It just didn’t seem to have that many screening times over the weekend.
And yes, I did spot Raimi’s longtime collaborator Bruce Campbell. Of course he’s in the movie somewhere.
Linda Liddle (McAdams) is a cubicle-dweller whose work is spectacular but whose social skills leave a lot to be desired. Her superiors take credit for her work, her co-workers seem indifferent to her at-best, and she doesn’t even seem to notice that much. She lives alone with a parakeet, watching her favorite show, the reality-competition series Survivor. She was promised a promotion to vice president when her late boss’s son Bradley (O’Brien) takes over the company, but he’d rather give the job to his frat buddy, and Linda is told she has one last chance to prove herself during a big meeting in Bangkok. But the flight hits a storm, and the private jet goes down in the sea with only Linda and an injured Bradley surviving to get to a deserted jungle island.
This is where Linda is finally in her element. Sure, she was good at her job, but here, she is really good, having taught herself all manner of survival tricks and tips. She just really knows how to live, and the mousy woman from the cubicle who seems incapable of standing up for herself or even just standing up straight is loving what’s going on. Bradley expects to continue his abusive boss tactics, but this is the one place where Linda is clearly in charge, and she may not mind the chance for a little payback if provoked. And if Linda wants to stay on the island, well…what can Bradley do about it?
The first half of the movie is Raimi doing what he does best, and it helps that McAdams really shines in the role of Linda. The transformation of Linda from timid drone to bold jungle survivor plays out well, and it is a Raimi movie, so there is a good deal of gruesome comedy, some of which I laughed out loud for. When Linda sees herself in the reflection of a pool of water, shakes out her hair and stands up straight, it may be the cliche of a mousy woman letting her hair down to discover she’s a hottie, but in this case, it has the added twist of Linda can only realize this far from home and most other people. This is a woman that life has mostly crapped on finding a place where she might actually belong.
But then in the third act, there was a shift. The script is trying to have it both ways, and it’s almost hard to pin down whether we’re supposed to sympathize with Linda or Bradley for a good chunk of the last third of the movie. Linda’s turning into an Annie Wilkes type, but not as sinister or evil, and it really became difficult to suss out how I was feeling about the movie itself. McAdams gives it her all, and she’s great in the role, and O’Brien is a nice smarmy jerk who may or may not be learning his lesson about how to treat people, I wasn’t quite sure what to make of how the movie ended. Was the ending a triumph for the right character? How should I feel about them? There are movies where this is a very appropriate response, but I don’t think Send Help is that kind of movie. I’d say it’s a must for Raimi’s fans, and the first half to two-thirds are a lot of fun, but the ending didn’t quite work for me.
Grade: C+
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