The Friendship Game
The idea of “ friends forever ” is a dainty view that many people think about throughout high-pitched school . For some , it ’s gruelling to imagine growing apart from one ’s safe friends even at the face of dramatic change like relocation , college aspiration , and personal emergence . These are concepts screenwriter Damien Ober play around with in a horror mystery / thriller that aspire to quiz loyalty among agroup of high school friendsas they transition to young chapters in their life story . take aim by Scooter Corkle , The Friendship Gamehad all the elements it take to succeed in this music genre . However , the picture show be given to sting off more than it can chew , and the goal result is a colossal letdown .
Cotton ( Kaitlyn Santa Juana ) , Zooza ( Peyton List ) , Courtney ( Kelcey Mawema ) , and Robbie ( Brendan Meyer ) will be friends to the end — at least , that ’s what they think before a occult object puts them through a series of trials to test the strength of their friendships . After reciting their deepest desire to each other while touch the strange item , the next few days try out their loyalties to one another . One among the friend mathematical group goes absent while the game pay back the inhalation of the others . To make matter worse , the objective has increasingly destructive consequences the deep into the game they go .
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Scooter Corkle’shorror featureposes the interrogative sentence , “ What find to one ’s friendship as life moves on and people acquire older ? ” It ’s an honest question to ask and a great founding for a feature that revolve around around the fear of being left behind when compeer begin to create new life for themselves . However , The Friendship Gamestruggles immensely by doing too much with a script that offer very little . The characters are thin and seem to unrealistically overreact at every sprain corner . The redaction and sequence of events are odd and tend to disrupt the lifelike progression of the story . fundamentally , the potential was there , but far too many thing go wrong to deem this a must - keep an eye on .
One could easily examineThe Friendship Gameas a genre experiment that enforce components from its predecessors to build off the intrinsical machination . Sojourner Truth be tell apart , the film does borrow from the the like of Pete Travis’sVantage Point , intertwining perspectives to slowly expose the final outcome of “ the game . ” Yet , there ’s a leave out constituent thatVantage Pointhas thatThe Friendship Gameseverelylacks among these various perspectives : Simplicity . The two are derivative and gimmicky by nature , but Corkle ’s film is n’t straightforward enough to keep the aid of its core hearing . The flashback leave more interrogation unanswered , and the succession rarely feel like they serve any intention to the inherent theme . Basically , the cinema seems like a rasping draft that had been unfortunately rushed to output .
If not for the shape , led by Peyton List , it would be easy to writeThe Friendship Gameoff as undeserving even of a background ticker on a slow Friday Nox . Honestly , even the background music overpowers the dialogue and would make that hard to do . But see the other interpersonal chemistry among the four supporter is sweet enough to cue anyone of the practiced old twenty-four hour period of high shoal . The cast does a wonderful chore conveying this onscreen . Unfortunately , these moments are short - lived as the characters are ready to turn hostile with one another . It ’s perhaps an constituent or side effect of the game , but again , it ’s not entirely nor adequately explained throughout the book .
The Friendship Gameis the kind of pic with which one should manage expectations . It does n’t properly execute its themes , nor does it sufficiently give away enough about the type and their destiny for audiences to bribe into the narration . And yet , there are glimpses , sprinkled throughout , of a different version of this moving-picture show that could have been dear — even great . With a committed hurl and even some play horror sequences throughout , it may just be enough to forgive the messiness one has to navigate through to find it .
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The Friendship Gamewill release in limited theaters , on digital , and on demand Friday , November 11 . The film is 87 minutes long and not rated .
Peyton List and Kelcey Mawema in The Friendship Game
