Painful

Rating: 4/10 (23 June 2018)

I don't know if it was what I was smoking when I watched this, but I never want to sit through it again. I'm no seasoned movie critic, but I've got something to say.
I immediately picked up on Brie's painfully unconvincing performance. The next thing I noticed was the terrible, soulless child actor who managed to be irritating and unlikable throughout. It felt as if the mother character was supposed to exhibit the pain and torment of both a captive prisoner and the mother from The Babadook, in which both were pulled off horribly.
Looking up the movie brings up that its genre is Drama/Thriller, but I honestly could not pick up what this movie was supposed to make me feel. The man holding them captive is not intimidating whatsoever, he poses no threat and does not make me feel scared when the mother and son start taking risks. The tone changes constantly when your child actor cannot emote, stop screaming, or repeating themselves. Compared to decent child actors, the choice here doesn't feel intentional, as if the kid was mentally damaged from living in a shed. It felt like a lazy choice and I didn't care in the end if he survived honestly. The movie did not make me feel any sympathy for him.
The kid totally breaks the pacing multiple times, ruining any form of suspense or thrill. He will say something stupid and unrelated, yell, etc. while another character is trying their best to perform. I know he is supposed to be an irritating kid, but I can't help but feel like he could've been done better. His monotone voiceovers come off as cheesy and uninspired, too. Total bore.
The worst part? Nothing happens. It's damn boring. Events just kind of happen one after the other - I can barely tell when each act starts and the resolution just felt too.. easy? Simply getting out a-okay from the shed after having to vomit on her son didn't feel like a nice payoff. And the movie just keeps going - never ends.
I hope I never have to sit through this again thank you Hanni for making watch this boring, loud, overrated movie. I see a gold film in here, but as of now I cannot fathom how this got any awards. The whole thing felt almost laughably bad if it wasn't for the lack of literally anything happening at all.