Deep Water and Windfall – Movie Reviews

March 20, 2022September 17, 2022 Andy Mikesic 1 Comment Ana de Armas, Ben Affleck, Charlie McDowell, Deep Water, Grace Jenkins, Jason Segel, Jesse Plemons, Lily Collins, Tracy Letts, Windfall

Deep Water is directed by Adrian Lyne, co-written by Zach Helm and Sam Levinson, based on the novel by Patricia Highsmith, starring Ben Affleck as Vic, Ana de Armas as Melinda, Tracy Letts as Don Wilson, and Grace Jenkins as Trixie. A wealthy husband allows his wife to take up affairs in order to keep his family together. This arraignment begins to look suspicious as her lovers keep disappearing.

This is a rather bland thriller. Most of that comes down to the writing. While there are elements that make this a compelling story its also like, “Yeah, of course the husband is a suspect.” But, the movie really doesn’t do much to get you invested in these characters. Vic obviously loves his wife but he’s lost her affection a long time ago. The only reason it seems like Melinda wants to stay with Vic is so that she can live off his money. If that’s the case the Vic has fallen for a gold digger and that’s just not that interesting a character to me.

The rest of the movie is filled with a lot of coincidental moments that bring you to the conclusion of the story and it just felt lazy. I don’t think that Ben Affleck or Ana de Armas did a bad job and like I said the idea of a husband allowing himself to be a cuck so he can maintain his illusion of a family is mildly interesting, but the resolution feels unearned. All in all, Deep Water could have worked better if the writers invested more time into their leads.

‘Deep Water’ Rating – 2/5

Windfall on Netflix is directed by Charlie McDowell, co-written by Justin Lader and Andrew Kevin Walker, starring Jason Segel as Nobody, Lily Collins as Wife, and Jesse Plemons as CEO. A man breaks into a tech CEO’s vacation home when he thought he would be alone. The CEO and his wife make a surprise trip to the house and his last minute getaway attempt fails.

I liked this movie. I’m a sucker for Jesse Plemons and his acting and Collins and Segel also pull their weight in this. There are a few very funny parts in the film, but Windfall is a little redundant when it comes to its themes. But, I think the characters were at least developed and they squeezed it into 90 minutes even though at times it felt a little longer than that. All in all, Windfall on Netflix is a nice little comedy thriller.