The Gift **** (2015, Jason Bateman, Rebecca Hall, Joel Edgerton) – Movie Review

Jason Bateman and Rebecca Hall stars as youngish married couple Simon and Robyn, whose life goes spiralling into meltdown after a chance encounter with Simon’s old high school acquaintance Gordo (Joel Edgerton).

Initially, Simon doesn’t even recognise Gordo at first, but Gordo really knows and remembers him. A series of increasingly creepy uninvited encounters and mysterious gifts follow, as a secret from the past is gradually revealed. It turns out we never really know the people closest to us and that bygones are never really bygones.

Edgerton writes and directs, as well as co-stars in this nice and tense and creepy – and for once totally effective – mystery thriller. Getting mood and atmosphere just right, he doesn’t let the pace slacken or the tension get lower. The writing is intelligent and credible, with the kind of actor-friendly dialogue you’d hope for from an actor.

Bateman and Hall nail the characters, with Bateman working a useful spin on his usual Mr Nice Guy persona and Hall convincingly American and hard-edged. Coming from a good place and never going to go away, Edgerton is an excellent monster.

It’s basically a three-hander, but also in the cast are Nash Edgerton, Busy Philipps, Tim Griffin, Adam Lazarre-White, Mirrah Foulkes and Allison Tolman.

It’s good that it’s an adult thriller, featuring grown-ups and not teens for a change. But that means in needs a grown-up audience too, so thirtysomethings need to get organised to see it. I’m so not in favour of chiller sequels, but there would be room and a welcome for The Gift 2, certainly another movie in the same mould from Edgerton.

© Derek Winnert 2015 Movie Review

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