Review: 'Bodies Bodies Bodies' Clever, Clever, Annoying

There's a lot of pointed messaging going on in A24's "Bodies Bodies Bodies," but for some reason the people and situations it's skewering end up just being... the people it's trying to skewer.

I left Halina Reijn's film confused as to what I really thought about it. There are moments that really make a comment on the vapidity of some of Gen Z and the aggressive political correctness and wokeness that they throw around like weapons, but then there are times where it's used seriously, belying the point in the first place.

The script, by Sarah DeLappe (with a story by Kristen Roupenian), has a familiar setup: A gaggle of twentysomethings arrives at an isolated mansion for a party. Specifically, a hurricane party. You see, a storm is coming, and the group thought it would be fun to spend a night partying in their friend's father's estate.

As occurs often in these types of movies, there is a lot of tension between the "friends," and you often wonder why these people are even friends in the first place. Not to mention, like, they all, like, talk like, someone from, like, a Kardashian show. This is intentional, but it wears thin.

We first meet Sophie (Amandla Stenberg "The Hate U Give") and Bee (Maria Bakalova "Borat Subsequent Moviefilm"), two young girls in love and lust. They arrive at the estate a day later than expected, setting off the vitriol of the always-snarky Jordan (Myha'la Herrold) and Sophie's best friend, David (Pete Davidson), whose father owns the mansion.

Also on tap are Alice (Rachel Sennott), the most Gen Z of all of them. She's brought along a much older guy she met on a dating app named Greg (Lee Pace), and is clearly the party girl of the crew – and the most insipid. There's also Emma (Chase Sui Wonders), who has been dating David for three years, but who may or may not really even care about the guy.

Tensions are already established when the torrential rain begins, and the group runs inside to begin their partying. After a spell, Sophie suggests they play "Bodies Bodies Bodies," which is just an alternate version of Werewolf. Basically, everyone draws a card from a pile and whoever has the one with an "X" on it is the killer. When the lights are turned off, they wander around the house until they are tapped on the back. This means they must immediately drop to the floor and play dead until someone finds them. Once they do, they yell "bodies bodies bodies," and everyone tries to guess who the killer is. If no one figures it out, the game continues.

Lo and behold, this game turns into yet another way for the characters to start arguing with each other about past relationships, past wrongs, irritating personality traits, etc. It's sometimes amusing, sometimes grating, but when one of the group quite literally ends up dead, suspicion takes over and all of their fears and mounting anger escalate. One by one the bodies pile up for a variety of reasons, culminating in a final reveal that hangs a lantern on certain behavior.

Truth be told, the movie only worked for me in fits and starts, but the ending sort of brought it all together. Social media allows people to get worked up about something that they've made an assumption about, and it leads to a variety of problems as the situation goes out of control. We see it happen daily: A post comes up with a click-bait headline, and then the debating and arguing instantly begins. There are no gray areas anywhere, it's all wrong or right, but half the time no one has read the actual article to find out the details. They're just responding to the headline. That's sort of what happens here, which is pretty fascinating.

What doesn't totally work is that, tonally, it never finds its balance. The kids (who all act like they are far younger and immature than they are) throw around words like "trigger" and "consent," and it's supposed to be funny. No one is listening to each other because they are putting up walls using terms that are supposed to make others shut up. But that's all they are: Terms. They sometimes don't understand the meanings of the words, but it still stops the group from communicating in a helpful manner.

Davidson's character even makes a comment about this early on, begging people to stop using the word "gaslighting" because they aren't even using it correctly. He's not wrong. There are people that latch onto words or concepts as a way to justify or defy behavior, and many times they don't understand the terms that come out of their mouths.

This could be funny, but there comes a point where most of the characters are using these phrases in all seriousness, and it doesn't even come across as dark humor. The only character/actor that seems to be in on the joke is Alice (Sennott), who is aligned with the satire.

While it's never really boring, the film does feel repetitive in stretches, with similar arguments occurring multiple times. No one ever seems truly upset that their friends are dead, and it's sometimes hard to care these characters getting killed, or who the killer might be.

Which makes me wonder who the film is for. Gen Z will likely latch onto the diversity of the cast and the of-the-moment discussions, and think this is "their" self-aware horror movie, even though the writers are poking a bit of fun at them. For older generations, the squealing party kids might get on their nerves before any thematic points are made.

It does feel like this is a movie that aligns with those film fans that think A24 is the height of artistic filmmaking and have found a film filled with people like themselves.

That's not to say it's a bad movie. It's not. There's some good dialogue, great performances by all of the cast, and a clever idea. For me, it just wasn't as successful as it could have been. But for some people, it will undoubtedly become a pop-culture classic.

"Bodies Bodies Bodies" opens August 5th only in theaters.