Review of Cheap Thrills (2013) by John M — 23 Jul 2014

How far can too far go? A chance encounter at a bar leads to a pair of friends competing in a series of challenges for cold, hard cash. Do you remember that episode of Arrested Development where Gob ends up getting married after a series of escalating dares? This is a like that, except it goes to a much darker place.

It starts out light, like "say something to that girl over there that will make her slap you", and goes to where the stakes are much higher, which I won't delve into because I don't want to cross over into spoiler territory.

A lot of what makes a movie like this work is the surprises, and one thing I really enjoyed about this is that almost every single challenge doesn't play out like you would expect. Even though these our desperate men, sympathy is still important in this scenario, and they do a good job at putting you into the shoes of Pat Healy's character; he's in a really tight spot monetarily, so it is important to relate to him in the beginning so you really feel it when you watch him compromising his principles.

This is one bad idea after another, the score does a really good job of making you feel uneasy, and if you like your comedies on the dark side, this one is for you.