Review of Home Sweet Hell (2015) by Atikhun K — 05 Mar 2015

Don't worry, I'll keep it short. HOME SWEET HELL is yet another movie that doesn't live up to its trailer. I do like films about psycho killers and maniacs, and films that have weird/awkward tones.

This film has those things, but the writing lets it down massively. I can abide unlikeable and unsympathetic characters (which this movie is filled with), but there was no attempt to deepen them in any way.

As such, you're given a bunch of walking, talking cliches that you don't care about one bit. As far as the plot and concept goes, it's a pretty cool one. You have Katherine Heigl playing to her strengths as a cold, manipulative [insert preferred derogatory term for females] who is wife to one of the most weak-minded, ineffectual husbands ever put to film (played by Patrick Wilson).

When a workplace dalliance comes back to bite him in the rear, his wife basically forces him to get rid of the problem. To be fair, I was along for the ride until the point at which this occurs. After that, you have a ridiculous subplot involving some lowlifes that didn't really need to be part of the story.

And the ending was rather crass, even for the semi-satirical material, not to mention open-ended in a way that it didn't need to be. To the film's credit, I did enjoy the performances by Patrick Wilson and Katherine Heigl.

Jordana Brewster did a decent job, but was better as eye-candy than an actual character. Even Jim Belushi shows up for several scenes, although his character wasn't that well-written either. When it comes down to it, I would have liked something with a little more satirical bite and a little less overt sexism and misogyny (neither of which are treated in *wink wink* fashion).

Overall, HOME SWEET HELL has a few good moments but still manages to squander a rather cool concept and the talents of its cast.