False Positive Review: Baffling & Extremely Poor!
False Positive on Hulu is written by director John Lee and Ilana Glazer, who plays the protagonist Lucy Martin, a woman trying to get pregnant with her first child with the help of Dr. John Hindle (Pierce Brosnan). After being successful, Lucy feels there is something strange about her fertility doctor, and that her pregnancy may not be as “natural” as she expected.
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I’ll just come out and be blunt; False Positive is one of my least favorite films I have ever seen. I unfortunately did not find enjoyment in any aspect of the film in the sense that it was not compelling, well produced, or had anything worthwhile to say. The script of the film was far below average, where the dialogue felt so unnatural and heavy handed. Usually I would blame a script, and not the actors, for such poor dialogue but the actor’s delivery of the lines did not help the film at all and I felt that very little effort was put into any aspect of the script or the performances.
One aspectof False Positive that I found baffling was that there was no realism to any of the characters in the film, not to mention the situations. Each scene in the fertility office, especially with the portrayal of the nurses, was so over the top that it felt like I was watching a satirical skit. A film like this does not have to be necessarily realistic but I felt that the concept of pregnancy, fertility, and the emotions that surround this process is such a common reality that realism would have made the film so much more frightening and impactful.
If one is to create a film on this topic with more bells and whistles than realism, then it must be done in a stylistic manner, which False Positive lacked completely. The dramatic and eerie vibe the filmmakers tried to create had little drama between scenes that left the audience wondering what may be going on outside of the extremely obvious “plot twist” that is revealed at the end. Instead the film springs a ridiculous plot point on us at the end as well that leaves the audience saying, “really?”
Totally independent of the quality of the film and whether one enjoyed it or not, False Positive’s imagery choices were absolutely repulsive and tasteless. Without spoilers of how it correlates to the plot of the film, choosing to include a montage of photos of dead fetuses and imagery of them in two or three instances in the film is just plain gross. It was done with zero care or taste and done for shock value, which had me looking away from the screen because of how disgusted I was. Being a person who has seen so many films and has never once had difficulty watching films for disturbing imagery, this just crossed the line. Between the extremely poor script, acting, value, and imagery, I would not recommend False Positive for anybody.
‘False Positive’ Rating – 0.5/5
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