By William Wolf

INGRID GOES WEST  Send This Review to a Friend

The central character, Ingrid, in “Ingrid Goes West,” written and directed by Matt Spicer, is so obnoxious and dangerous that it is hard to work up any sympathy for-or interest in—her even when things go terribly wrong in her life. Aubrey Plaza portrays her as apparently written, a psycho badly in need of help.

Meanwhile, obsessed with social media and her own failure at having friends, she throws liquid into the face of a bride at a wedding, and after this unforgivable act, takes off for Los Angeles, where she has a plan for recognition. She schemes to become friends with high-profile Taylor Sloane a vacuous social media success played accordingly by Elisabeth Olsen.

Meanwhile, she takes advantage of her very decent landlord, played by O’Shea Jackson, Jr., who tries to be sympathetic but is given a hard time by the manipulative sicko. At first Taylor is fooled, but when her obnoxious brother gets into the scene, he discovers how fraudulent the stalker is and Ingrid’s new-found milieu is about to evaporate for her.

If this is meant to satirize the extent to which social media now rules the world, it fails because its leading character is so menacing. And the social targets she wants to emulate are not worth caring about either. In short, this is an unpleasant film with few redeeming features. A Neon release. Reviewed August 11, 2017.

  

[Film] [Theater] [Cabaret] [About Town] [Wolf]
[Special Reports] [Travel] [HOME]