Now available to stream on Netflix, black comedy Bodies Bodies Bodies shows us what’s next for two incredibly talented young comedians: Maria Bakalova, who earned an Oscar nomination by stealing Borat: Subsequent Moviefilm from under Sacha Baron Cohen. And Rachel Sennott, who made one of the best and most popular films of 2020, baby shiva, a hardened comedy diamond with sharp edges. Here, they are part of a 20-person ensemble whose drunken murder mystery game becomes much more than just a game: it becomes a harsh, hard-hitting generational-political commentary on A24.
BODIES BODIES BODIES: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?
The essence: Bee (Bakalova) and Sophie (Amandla Stenberg) rub their tongues on each other’s faces in the woods. Sophie confesses, “I love you,” and Bee hesitates. Their relationship is still a little fresh and Bee seems a little shy, but it’s a sweet moment anyway and then there’s a sudden edit and they’re in the car furiously tapping on their phones. That’s our cue to raise an eyebrow: they connect with each other and then have to very urgently connect with the rest of the world.
However, there is a disconnect between them. Bee is a young working class girl very close to her mother; I was texting her. Sophie is stupid rich and probably went to an Ivy League school and has never driven anything less than a Range Rover. Is this something that love can overcome? We’ll see. Bee is nervous because she will meet Sophie’s friends for the first time, in an absurdly huge mansion, behind a gate and far from civilization. They are sheltering with alcohol, drugs, junk food, and an absurd amount of flashlights for the coming hurricane. There is no evacuation plan. I guess if things get really bad, they can take refuge in the indoor basketball court.
Roll Call: The house belongs to David (Pete Davidson), Sophie’s oldest friend; He’s kind of an idiot. He is dating Emma (Chase Sui Wonders), an actress; She is fed up with David. Jordan (Myha’la Herrold, from Industry) is an outdoor resistant type; he seems to be trying to get between Bee and Sophie and cause a little chaos. Alice (Sennot) is a loose cannon who brought along a dumb older guy, Greg (Lee Pace); she parties hard and hard and he, well, he’s new around here, so if something happens, he should be charged first. Bee cautiously watches and participates, and also discovers that Sophie has had some personal problems. And then the storm really picks up.
The strange dynamic between this group is lubricated when they all agree to play Bodies Bodies Bodies, a party game that involves crawling around the dark mansion with a flashlight while one of the players “kills” one of the other players, and when they they turn off the lights. Above, the accusations fly. The game doesn’t start until everyone sits in a circle and slaps each other, hard, in the face, in succession, then drinks some liquor, and the only reason I see for this ritual is to irritate the tension a little and almost guarantee the game ends with someone crying. As the game and its participants end, we slowly realize that everyone here is a moron. As expected, everyone is a little drunk and something happens and someone ends up bleeding out. But as these things happen, it’s hard to know who the larger Damn idiot in a room full of damn idiots.
What movies will it remind you of?: Bodies Bodies Bodies is an A24-style “elevated horror” version of Clue. He is also a spiritual cousin of Game night.
Performance worth seeing: Sennot is a rowdy character who chews Xanax like they’re Flintstones vitamins and isn’t remotely convincing in his insistence that having a podcast requires a lot of hard work.
Memorable dialogue: An excellent example of how these people talk:
“Are there weapons in the house?”
“No. David is acting like an idiot, but his policy is correct.”
Sex and skin: Just smash your face.
Our opinion: It’s not a spoiler to say that more than one character becomes a corpse here; I mean, it’s right there in the title of the movie. The situation escalates to a point where these people become so emotionally volatile that they not only accuse each other of murder, but say things like “Your parents are upper middle class!” and “Don’t call her a psychopath, that’s so ableist!” I mean, people may be dead in pools of their own blood, but DO NOT accuse any of these sensitive inpiduals of being ENABLED. My God. Be reasonable!
So Bodies Bodies Bodies is a scorching Zillennial comedy that aims too high and crashes its Beemer into an old-school whodunnit. Director Halina Reijn and screenwriter Sarah DeLappe hit the mark of satire, eviscerating the way this generation’s Privilegenati think, speak and act, and concluding with a great punchline. Sometimes they hammer the point a bit—a third-act crisis finds the remaining parties shooting PC phraseology at each other like passive-aggressive paintball players—but you might be laughing too hard to care. The filmmakers may also be involved in torturing these often disgusting characters, setting the scene on a good old Dark and Stormy Night and screwing them over by not only turning off the power, but also…gasp! – Wifi. They play with points of view, shroud things in darkness and stage fierce fights for the possession of a weapon. But the fight for a smartphone drop is much fiercer.
Our call: TRANSMIT IT. Bodies Bodies Bodies He’s thin, nasty and very funny.
John Serba is a freelance writer and film critic living in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Read more of his work at johnserbaatlarge.com.
