Instead of walking out of the movie before reaching the end, as apparently many people did, I'm writing this review before I've seen the end. This is an excellent movie because of Ann Dowd's portrayal of a manager, Sandra, the likes of which we've probably all known. I've been in the workforce for nearly 4 decades and I know a handful of middle managers that I could easily imagine falling for this nasty prank.
My favorite part was when the manager's fiance is in the storeroom of the fast-food restaurant, with a naked-except-for-an-apron teenager in the background, and he's talking on the phone with the fakest-sounding "officer" you could imagine, and the manager interrupts him to ask "You want a Diet Coke, hon? A Diet Coke?" And then she asks her humiliated employee if she'd like a drink also. The realism of this scene is off the charts. It takes multiple layers of obliviousness and misplaced priorities to focus on a drink at that point in the proceedings, and that's exactly what it takes to fall for this prank in real life.
None of us think we would fall for this. But I bet all of us think we know some people who would. That's disturbing.
Apparently this film is very accurate to the true events, so it's not like I can rate it super high for originality or screenplay. And the subject matter doesn't lend itself to anything significant in the way of special effects, sound editing, etc. But, it's kind of a must-see as a cautionary tale, and Ann Dowd nailed her character, so I'll rate it a 7.
My favorite part was when the manager's fiance is in the storeroom of the fast-food restaurant, with a naked-except-for-an-apron teenager in the background, and he's talking on the phone with the fakest-sounding "officer" you could imagine, and the manager interrupts him to ask "You want a Diet Coke, hon? A Diet Coke?" And then she asks her humiliated employee if she'd like a drink also. The realism of this scene is off the charts. It takes multiple layers of obliviousness and misplaced priorities to focus on a drink at that point in the proceedings, and that's exactly what it takes to fall for this prank in real life.
None of us think we would fall for this. But I bet all of us think we know some people who would. That's disturbing.
Apparently this film is very accurate to the true events, so it's not like I can rate it super high for originality or screenplay. And the subject matter doesn't lend itself to anything significant in the way of special effects, sound editing, etc. But, it's kind of a must-see as a cautionary tale, and Ann Dowd nailed her character, so I'll rate it a 7.