Review of The Voices (2014) by Dawdlingpoet — 26 Nov 2021

This is very much a dark comedy and crime related film, with horror elements present and themes including murder, trauma and impersonation. Its very much a surreal and wacky type of a film, which is made clear from the start, probably about the second scene onwards. The ending is also particularly spookily light hearted and fun to watch.

I felt there was a strongly artificial feel of what I can only term as 'enforced happiness' present relatively early on, with the film having somewhat of a corporate feel to it as well. It struck me, somehow, as possibly like a live action, darker version of something like Garfield. It also reminded me of the relatively new Netflix series 'Santa Clarita Diet', due to the more gory elements and dark humour, of course.

Cast wise, Ryan Reynolds plays the main character, Jerry, who comes across, certainly initially, as quite a regular inoffensive, run-of-the-mill type - a pretty average-joe. I found myself feeling sorry for him after the initial turn of events. He is the sort of person who, I imagine, most wouldn't think it at all likely that he'd do what he does and in a way I suppose that could make the film more disturbing, or distressing but I felt it added to the dark humour. Reynolds was, I felt, a good choice to play Jerry - he certainly looks the part as an average-joe. There is a certain bumbling naivety that he shows through his portrayal, I felt. Meanwhile, Gemma Arterton plays Fiona, portraying a bright and breezy young English girl and Anna Kendrick plays Lisa. Jacki Weaver plays Jerrys doctor, doctor Warren.

I did find it relatively amusing in parts but, as I say, it is quite surreal. Some may feel it to be a bit distasteful, not least as it seems to portray someone with mental health issues, who hears voices clearly being prone to sudden violence and far from everyone is that way - its an unfortunate stereotype of sorts but I mostly enjoyed the film, for its quirkiness. I wondered about describing Jerry as an underdog type but then I'm not sure if we'd be wanting to 'root' for him, giving the circumstances. If I had to compare it to a TV show then the first one that would come to mind would be Dexter, which was (is? if its still going - I watched it for a few seasons but then stopped as it got quite 'same-y' and a little overly bleak for my liking overall) quite heavy with dark comedy. At times, I noticed the use of a sort of child like, instrumental, perhaps including harp music, which added to the artificial, corporate and naive feel of the film. There was relatively little other music. Content wise, the film features frequent strong language, sex references and some TV footage that seems to show various animals mating. There is also some quite bloody violence, some of which isn't entirely shown on screen but we see a fair amount of blood including on people, in the form of blood spatter and the like. Severed body parts are also shown, so if your very squeamish in relation to blood then this is likely a film best avoided. There is also a flashback scene featuring Jerry as a child, with his mother, which involves violence and may be particularly upsetting to some. Otherwise, Jerry's behaviour when things turn dark may well frighten people, particularly younger people. Due to this content, the film has been given a 15 rating.

While its a good film and its moderately memorable, it didn't strike me as being especially great as such. The characters are ok, mainly Jerry but the supporting roles were a little bland and I felt that, with a stronger script, perhaps this could have been a bit better, a bit more substantial. Overall, yes, I suppose I would recommend it. It won't suit everyone but it is relatively amusing and it features a good performance by Ryan Reynolds, with some dark humour, its worth a watch, although it may seem a bit distasteful to some.