Some Freaks (2017)

Number Rolled: 79

Movie Name/Year: Some Freaks (2017)

Tagline: It’s weird not to be weird.

Genre: Comedy, Drama, Romance

Length: 97 minutes

Rating: TV-MA

Production Companies: Mountview Creative

Producer: Monica Aguirre Diez Barroso, Christine Altomari, Mia Chang, Allen Cheney, Johnny Egan, Brough Hansen, Tim Harms, Lovell Holder, Neil LaBute, Nancy Nayor, Alan Pao, Yingzhi Peng, Clark Peterson, Jamie Silva, Ryan Donnell Smith, Lindsey Weissmueller, Gillian Williams

Director: Ian MacAllister McDonald

Writer: Ian MacAllister McDonald

Actors: Thomas Mann, Marin Ireland, Lily Mae Harrington, Lachlan Buchanan, Nikki Massoud, Ely Henry, Mayank Bhatter, Elise Hudson, Shannon Hartman, Ryan Boudreau

Stunts: Shawn Doherty, Nick Principe

Blurb from Netflix: A one-eyed boy and plus-sized girl form a deep connection. But following a brief separation, they reunite as different people.

Selina’s Point of View:

For the majority of this film I was really enjoying watching.

I remember being the big girl in school, dealing with bullies and trying to joke my way through it when no one was looking. I found that character incredibly relatable – right down to the uncontrollable rage and not-so-great life choices.

She wasn’t an incredibly likable character – but neither was I in high school. Totally felt realistic.

The further into Some Freaks I got, the more the film seemed to make sense to me. It went along the line of showing not to judge a book by its cover, which is a lesson I’m always fond of. However, the ending destroyed it for me.

What could have been pretty awesome, wound up spiraling into something I’ll remember as being a pointless hipster film with no conclusion. It didn’t have an open ending – it had no ending. There’s a big difference between the two in my mind. 

One I can enjoy, the other leaves me feeling like I wasted my time by watching.

This movie simply wasn’t for me. I’m sure there are plenty of people out there that are happy with that kind of non-ending… and if that’s you, then go for it. Otherwise, I can’t recommend Some Freaks.

Cat’s Point of View:

I’m not exactly sure what I expected going in with this movie. Even with the blurb giving me a general idea, I couldn’t help but want something more.

I kept expecting the story to evolve into something a little less awkward but it never quite made it there for me. One thing I can say, though, is that it felt real. The awkwardness felt necessary, even if it did leave me squirming a little more than I liked. I could genuinely relate to the pair of social outcasts finding meaning and middle ground together.

There were moments I just wanted to smack Thomas Mann’s (Beautiful Creatures, Memoria, Brain on Fire) character, Matt, right upside the head. Considering my usual reaction to him on screen is something along the lines of ‘awww,’ it’s a ‘thumbs up’ for his performance.

I want to see and hear more from Lily Mae Harrington (The Glee Project, Pee Wee's Big Holiday, Disjointed). She has such a lovely voice – and not just the one she sings with. The way she projected herself in this movie, embodying the character of Jill, was almost painful for me to watch because it brought me back to the days I was walking in those shoes. Those were the days my doctor told me I’d grow into my weight when I got a little taller – the days that some guy pretended to like me just so he could snicker with his friends behind my back. Those days that laid the foundation for me taking a few unnecessary risks when I finally started coming out of my shell because the validation felt good.

Oh Jill, I feel you girl.

I feel like I got what the film was trying to say – but the ending left me hanging. There was no resolution – it was simply full-stop. It doesn’t even seem like keeping room for a sequel could justify how things were left off for me – and good lord, why would someone subject themselves to a second serving of that?! It’s bad enough when it feels like all of my middle school nightmare and awkward teen years were put through a juicer. I don’t think I’d want a second helping.

Languages

Speech Available: English

Subtitles Available: English

Rotten Tomatoes Critic Score – 92%

Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score – 74%

Metascore - 67/100

Metacritic User Score – 6/10

IMDB Score – 6.3/10

Trust the Dice: Selina’s Rating – 2.5/5

Trust the Dice: Cat’s Rating – 2.5/5

Movie Trailer: