You Get Me (2017)

Number Rolled: 71

Movie Name/Year: You Get Me (2017)

Tagline: Some mistakes won’t let go.

Genre: Thriller, Drama

Length: 89 minutes

Rating: TV-MA

Production Companies: Awesomeness TV

Producer: Marc Bienstock, Thor Bradwell, Nicki Cortese, William Day Frank, Jessica Held, Matthew Kaplan, Robyn Marshall, Brian Robbins, Max Siemers, Jimmy Sprague, Bella Thorne

Director: Brent Bonacorso

Writer: Ben Epstein

Actors: Bella Thorne, Halston Sage, Taylor John Smith, Nash Grier, Anna Akana, Rhys Wakefield, Brigid Brannagh, Kathryn Morris, Kimberly Williams-Paisley, Boyd Kestner, Yasmine Al-Bustami, Farrah Mackenzie, Josh Banday, Garcelle Beauvais, Bronx Taylor

Stunt Doubles: Helena Barrett, Timothy Eulich, Heidi Pascoe, Brady Romberg, Mallory Thompson

Blurb from Netflix: After a one-night stand, Holly develops a dangerous obsession with Tyler and transfers to his high school, desperate to keep their “romance” alive.

Selina’s Point of View:

I’m not a fan.

The story was pretty basic and the script reflected it. At no point in the film did I not know what was going to happen next. Actually, to be fair, there was one moment that caught me semi-off-guard, but that was it.

I wish the script was a little better. Some decent banter between the friends would have helped elevate the film above the expected tropes. Just a few tweaks to a couple of scenes would have completely altered the way I saw things. Unfortunately, the creators of this film really went with the lowest common denominator on almost anything.

The only reason I didn’t mark You Get Me lower than I did, was because the acting was spot on. I was greatly impressed by almost all the actors. I very nearly marked the movie a grade higher, but I lowered it again because one of my greatest pet peeves was a factor.

Writers, here’s a bit of advice: do your damn research.

It’s not hard to research anything. Google will give you a generic idea of roughly any subject you could think of and then some. Sure, you may not feel comfortable googling everything… but there’s always a way to find out what you need.

Recently I needed to figure out what kind of gun was the best for a close-range assassin to use for defense. I wouldn’t have even known where to start looking for that kind of thing, so I contacted a Marine friend of mine that knows guns and we discussed it. Boom. Research accomplished.

The writer of this film clearly doesn’t have a fucking clue as to how an allergy works. Do you know how many people have allergies? He could have gone out into the middle of the street, called out for someone with allergies, and twelve people would have looked over. It’s such a common issue and for him to not have bothered to research anything on it to get his scene to make sense, is absolutely unacceptable.

I’m not going to be able to suspend disbelief on any project I know Ben Epstein (In the Vault, Happyland, The Reunion) has written for. I’m immediately going to question everything… and that takes the fun out of watching a film.

You Get Me is not the worst film I’ve ever seen, but I will likely never watch it again or recommend it. I may, however, look up the actors involved and hunt down some of their work.

Cat’s Point of View:

I’m just going to jump right in here and say that I was rather surprised to find that this is the full-length feature film debut for director Brent Bonacorso (Now and Nowhere, West of the Moon, The Narrow World). Of course, short films can be just as involved as larger projects – but there simply weren’t many credits listed for Bonacorso in general. I look forward to seeing more of his work in the future.

The visuals he captured were stunning – from the scenery to the other locations. It made for a real treat for the senses. I find it interesting, though, that so many films (and especially Netflix projects) lately have been going in the ‘retro’ direction with the electronica soundtracks. I love it, even if I am curious as to what started that trend.

I can’t really think of anything at the moment that stands out as negative for this movie. This wasn’t the most original concept out there, but I found I didn’t mind. 

The film throws quite a few teen / young adult dramatic recipes into a blender. It felt familiar but didn’t go to the hokey place you’d expect for a Lifetime movie or general soap-like show. There were even a few elements I didn’t expect, even if it was largely predictable.

Bella Thorne (Blended, Big Sky, Keep Watching), Halston Sage (Neighbors, Paper Towns, Before I Fall), and Taylor John Smith (Martyrs, Wolves, Sharp Objects) had good chemistry on screen together. I found it easy to invest in their characters. I was also happy to see Anna Akana (Stunted, Kids vs. Monsters, Stitchers) – but I wanted more from her character. We only got a few good snippets of her story. I realize her role was supporting, but I think they could have utilized her more.

The only cast member I had any issues connecting with was Nash Grier (Air Bound, The Outfield, The Deleted). I don’t know what exactly was missing. The good news is that it didn’t detract from the movie altogether.

All told, I enjoyed the movie and wouldn’t mind giving it a recommendation.

Languages

Speech Available: Brazilian Portuguese, Spanish, English, Italian, French

Subtitles Available: English, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, French, Spanish

Rotten Tomatoes Critic Score – None

Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score – 24%

Metascore - None

Metacritic User Score – None

IMDB Score – 4.7/10

Trust the Dice: Selina’s Rating – 2/5

Trust the Dice: Cat’s Rating – 4/5

Movie Trailer: