The Weekend Away
With Netflix’sThe Weekend Away , Leighton Meester finds herself in a place familiar to many cinematic heroes . A psychological thriller in the nervure ofGone GirlorThe Girl on the Train , The Weekend Awayholds all the component of a classic missing - individual mystery . Unfortunately , the film , which is free-base on the novel of the same name by Sarah Alderson ( also the author of the book here ) , miss the same thrills and suspense that have drive so many others in this genre to bully height . Director Kim Farrant finds moments of brightness , but also conduct too much metre to up the stakes . Though Meester set on a solid performance atop an challenging plot , The Weekend Awaydoesn’t issue enough thrills to make it an entertaining watch .
New mother Beth ( Meester ) has been draw away from her girl and infelicitous union in London to indulge in a sport - filled weekend in Croatia with her best friend Kate ( Christina Wolfe ) . Her first night there , Beth is hoping for a courteous dinner and to twist in early , but Kate fleetly pulls her into a untamed night out … which proves to be a fateful decision . Beth wakes the next morning to find Kate missing , and despite her unspoiled efforts , no one seems to trust that something awful pass . Armed with only a taxi driver named Zain ( Ziad Bakri ) as an friend , Beth sets out to uncover just what happen to her friend .
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The Weekend Awaydoesn’t squander much meter in getting to Kate ’s disappearance ; by the 15 - mo Deutschmark , she ’s run and Beth is worried . One would then expect Farrant to plunk decent into this confounding mystery , butThe Weekend Awayinstead takes a slower approach . The pacing is uneven , with a more restrained start that subsequently gives way to rapid - fervour twists . Beth gradually pieces together some details of the night before — which she ca n’t recall , much to her frustration — but the first step forward in her investigation only come about because she has Zain to help her . For the first portion ofThe Weekend aside , Beth is more of a peaceful bystander . It ’s only subsequently on in the action that she brings out some clever moves of her own , include one that ’s a sly callback to an early moment . Beth could be a compelling character , a woman desperate to find her ally in an inhospitable surround . Overall , though , Alderson ’s playscript does n’t give Meester much else to do besides cry and fret .
Of of course , anyone who has seen Meester ’s previous oeuvre will know she has the range for a number of characters . The Weekend Away ’s Beth is a far cry from the performance Meester is best known for — Blair Waldorf onGossip Girl — and yet the actress has no problem sink into her meeker character . Because of how quickly Kate ’s disappearance come about , it ’s hard to get a right recital on her friendship with Beth . However , thanks to Meester , that connection is felt through Beth ’s desperation to find Kate . Meester lets the consultation feel Beth ’s painful sensation , particularly when a twist nearly midway through takesThe Weekend Awayin a new direction . The rest of the cast is square , with Bakri perhaps reach the biggest belief as the amazingly helpful Zain .
With a motion picture likeThe Weekend Away , bring something new to the format is improbably difficult . There have already been countless other movies with the same kind of premise , so all it really takes is a compelling mystery story , a good amount of suspense , and a crushing tress to succeed over interview . Unfortunately , The Weekend Awaydoesn’t have virtually enough of the second part , thus hindering everything else . The most nail-biting episode finds Beth uncovering something about her creepy landlord ( Adrian Pezdiric ) , but the residuum of the mystery lacks that same propulsion . This connects back to the precarious pacing , which results in the biggest turn coming with just 15 minutes left in the film . To be mediocre , said end is pretty challenging and fills in gaps viewers might not have realized were there .
Still , The Weekend Away ’s solid ending is n’t quite enough to make up for the underwhelming journeying . There are far more compelling psychological thrillers out there these days , and this one comes across as a merely average effort . Meester is a reasonableness to see , so fans of her work might find something here . All tell apart , though , The Weekend Awayis a missing - persons adventure that is n’t as engrossing as it could ’ve been .
More : find out The Weekend Away Trailer
The Weekend Awayis now streaming on Netflix . It is 91 minute of arc long and rated TV-14 for spoken language , fury , and suggestive dialog .
Christina Wolfe and Leighton Meester in The Weekend Away
A weekend getaway to Croatia go awry when a cleaning woman ( Leighton Meester ) is accused of killing her near friend ( Christina Wolfe ) and her crusade to get to the truth uncover a painful secret .
Ziad Bakri and Leighton Meester in The Weekend Away
