Score: 3.5 / 5
Christopher Landon goes for gold with a second installment of the fabulous 2017 Happy Death Day, and while it may not win over a horror-comedy fan, the sequel seems eager to find a home with the science fiction-drama crowd.
That's not to say it's not hilarious or occasionally scary. It is. This time around, Tree (Jessica Rothe, as brilliant as last time) gets stuck in a time loop on the same Monday the 18th day in a different dimension. What? I know, it's a bit hokey, and the film's greatest weakness is in its opening scenes. Seemingly clever at first -- we follow Ryan the roommate for a day as he, too, gets murdered and stuck in a time loop -- things get messy when multiple timelines and dimensions quickly take our main concerns. This time we're not so busy wondering who is killing people, but rather how to navigate the same world with different rules. It's fun, but kind of masturbatory.
Too, the film's focus on such science fiction devices makes for lots of laughs, but the film is tonally its own beast. If you, like I, were hoping for another Scream-level mix of horror and comedy, you'll be disappointed when we're subjected to lengthy discussions of inter-dimensional travel that would give A Wrinkle in Time a run for its money. On the other hand, the shift in basic genre also allows for a secondary shift: while the laughs roll abundantly here as well as in the original, we get surprisingly tense doses of real emotional weight. In this alternate dimension, see, her mother is still alive; as if that wasn't enough heartache, sweet boyfriend Carter (Israel Broussard, cute as ever) is dating her sorority sister.
In this way, 2U builds upon the former film's eventual exploration of the value Tree learned in being kind and intentional in her daily actions. This time, she is forced to make serious decisions about what she wants out of life and love. It all gets unexpectedly emotional, and I found myself tearing up more than once. And while this film may not have had the murderous glee I expected or wanted, I found it thoroughly entertaining and endlessly surprising. Let's hope that a third movie continues to give us more of all these elements in addition to something fresh. I'll keep my fingers crossed for some extra stabby-stabby.
That's not to say it's not hilarious or occasionally scary. It is. This time around, Tree (Jessica Rothe, as brilliant as last time) gets stuck in a time loop on the same Monday the 18th day in a different dimension. What? I know, it's a bit hokey, and the film's greatest weakness is in its opening scenes. Seemingly clever at first -- we follow Ryan the roommate for a day as he, too, gets murdered and stuck in a time loop -- things get messy when multiple timelines and dimensions quickly take our main concerns. This time we're not so busy wondering who is killing people, but rather how to navigate the same world with different rules. It's fun, but kind of masturbatory.
Too, the film's focus on such science fiction devices makes for lots of laughs, but the film is tonally its own beast. If you, like I, were hoping for another Scream-level mix of horror and comedy, you'll be disappointed when we're subjected to lengthy discussions of inter-dimensional travel that would give A Wrinkle in Time a run for its money. On the other hand, the shift in basic genre also allows for a secondary shift: while the laughs roll abundantly here as well as in the original, we get surprisingly tense doses of real emotional weight. In this alternate dimension, see, her mother is still alive; as if that wasn't enough heartache, sweet boyfriend Carter (Israel Broussard, cute as ever) is dating her sorority sister.
In this way, 2U builds upon the former film's eventual exploration of the value Tree learned in being kind and intentional in her daily actions. This time, she is forced to make serious decisions about what she wants out of life and love. It all gets unexpectedly emotional, and I found myself tearing up more than once. And while this film may not have had the murderous glee I expected or wanted, I found it thoroughly entertaining and endlessly surprising. Let's hope that a third movie continues to give us more of all these elements in addition to something fresh. I'll keep my fingers crossed for some extra stabby-stabby.
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