Would You Rather
(2012) 93 Min.
Rated: NR
Director: David Guy Levy
Starring: Brittany Snow, June Squibb, Jeffrey Combs, Robb Wells
Links: IMDB | Wikipedia
Rating: ★☆☆☆☆
A young woman chooses to attend a party where the participants are made to play a game for a chance to win all the money they could ever need.
Synopsis:
Iris (Snow) has a sick brother and has a hard time paying for his medical bills. Her brother’s doctor, Dr. Barden, brings in a friend. A benefactor, named Shepard Lambrick (Combs), who proposes that Iris attend a dinner at the end of which a game will be played to determine who will win. The winner will get all their medical bills taken care of.
Iris is, naturally, in disbelief, but the doctor assures her that the offer is real. He was a past winner and was able to keep his failing health clinic and benefited greatly from it.
Iris thinks it over and during the night RSVPs for the dinner. She lies to her brother and tells him that she plans to hang out with her girlfriends and relax. Instead, she will attend this event.
Iris is picked up in a black car and whisked away to an undisclosed location. She’s introduced to a room full of other people who are also waiting. There are eight guests in all. Lucas and Cal introduce themselves and run down briefly through the other guests.
Meanwhile, Shepard Lambrick talks to his son, Julian Lambrick, and asks him to be on his best behavior. He tells Julian that as a Lambrick their interaction should be minimal while the game takes place.
Bevans, the butler, tells the guests that they are to leave their personal artifacts outside of the game. He collects their keys, phones, and purses. He then leads them into the dining room. Mr. Lambrick and his son appear. Dinner begins and steak is served.
Iris raises the issue that she’s a vegetarian. Mr. Lambrick offers her $10,000 to eat the steak. She buckles down and eats the steak for the money.
Another guest, Conway, is a recovering alcoholic and won’t drink the wine served. Mr. Lambrick offers him $50,000 to drink a decanter of scotch. Conway decides to drink the scotch.
After dinner the game begins. Mr. Lambrick explains that it is a game of “Would you rather” where two choices are given to a guest, but neither one is very attractive. The dilemmas are timed and a choice must be made within 15 seconds or the guest will be eliminated. Mr.Lambrick offers them a last chance to leave if they wish not to participate. None of the guests leave.
Bevans rolls in a torture device on a cart. Conway gets up with his money and attempts to leave, deciding not to stay. Instead, Bevans shoots him in the head, killing him. As he already had his chance to leave earlier.
The rest of the guests are given a chance to either shock themselves or someone else, sitting next to them. Iris chooses to shock herself, rather than Cal.
While this takes place, Dr.Barden is at home in deep thought. He loads a gun and conceals it. He gets into his car and drives off into the night.
Julian enters the dining room while preparations are made for round 2. He goads the rest of the guests. Travis, a war vet, gets angry at Julian. The servants line the room with plastic in anticipation of the rest of the night’s event.
Iris is asked to either stab Travis with an ice pick in the thigh or whip him three times with a sjambok. She chooses the stick. After Travis endures the blows, his back is bleeding. Lucas is also asked if he’d rather stab Iris in the thigh or hit Travis with the stick again.
Next Travis is given the option of either stabbing Lucas with the ice pick or getting three more hits by Bevans. Travis would rather endure the whipping than hurt anyone else.
Peter (Wells) is next given the option to stab Linda (Squibb), an older woman in a wheelchair, or hit Travis again. Peter decides that Travis looks very bad and Linda is paralyzed in her legs and wouldn’t feel the stab. After he stabs her, her leg is bleeding a large amount. Linda, in turn, decides to stab Amy. Amy then gets up and chooses to stab Iris. She decides to stab her in the side, rather than the leg.
Dr.Barden has been able to sneak around the house and has now entered the cellar, during all this.
Linda is pronounced dead from her stab wound. Travis has passed out on the floor, but he’s still breathing. The mood grows ever more darker in the room.
Cal is given the choice to stab Lucas or finish off Travis. Cal decides to hit Travis, rationalizing that perhaps Travis would want it over anyway. The round is over and Travis is removed from the room.
Lucas asks Iris if she can run and he shouts “now” and everyone tries to flee. Cal is shot in the chest as he advances towards Mr. Lambrick. Only Iris manages to run out of the room.
Bevans and Julian go to search for Iris. Julian is the first to find Iris in the cellar and he tries to pull her down. She’s on the ground pinned under him as he tries to toy with her. She bites his hand and stabs him with the ice pick.
Dr.Barden appears with the gun and tells Iris that he should never have allowed her to be invited to the game. He’s instantly shot by Bevans, who has heard the noises from upstairs.
Bevans retrieves Iris and returns her to the game.
The next round in the game the participants are told to decide between whatever punishment is in an envelope or to be placed underwater for two minutes.
Peter opens his envelope and is given a large quarter stick firecracker. He is to hold it and light it, never letting go. He lights the fuse and there is a pop. Peter falls to the ground with a bloody hand.
Peter dies from the shock and a heart attack.
Lucas is up next. He feels like he can’t hold his breath that long and opts for the card. The card says he must slit open his eye. Lucas feels like he can’t do it. The camera quickly pans away as Lucas cuts his eye.
Iris chooses the water. Iris squirms under Revans grip. At the two minute mark she pulls up and coughs.
Amy decides to open the envelope and inside it says she must endure the barrel for four minutes, instead of just two. Bevans holds her under and she struggles until she goes limp and drowns.
Mr.Lambrick now only has Lucas and Iris playing the game. After a coin toss, Iris is the one who will decide for the round. Her options are to either shoot Lucas with a pistol and win or to decide to walk away and they would both go free.
While Lucas tries to plead his case, Iris shoots him. She’s applauded and given the cash reward.
She goes home after a long night. She checks on her brother who is in bed. She takes a shower and gets dressed. She once again checks on her brother and turns him over. He’s pale and stiff. Empty bottles of medication surround him and Iris starts to sob.
Review:
This film is a rather play it safe, paint by number thriller. Though it does introduce an interesting concept, it’s been done several times before. (Stay ALive, Funny Games, Saw)
The audience knows from the start that Iris is favored. We know that she dedicates her life to her brother. We also know that her brother feels like a burden. So from the get-go we have an inkling that perhaps her brother may be suicidal.
Among the eight guests, none of their back stories are told with any real detail. We don’t know why they were chosen or flown in from various parts of the country. The idea that everyone simply goes along with this without fighting seems unbelievable. We have nothing to tie us to the other characters or to feel sympathetic to them.
Dr.Barden’s revenge just serves as a distraction that is instantly eliminated as soon as he’s anywhere near the guests. Julian, as well, is a distraction that is eliminated partway through the film. He never appears again.
For all of the torture, there’s almost none shown on screen. Most of the violence is suggested rather than shown with the exception of gunfire. There’s also a notable lack of tension. Many of the guests die without much (comparatively) being done to them.
This film is fairly predictable and somewhat frustrating in its predictability. The escape attempt was the only somewhat interesting part, but everyone was quickly subdued and it felt akin to a time filler.
The one interesting thing about the film was the amount of fairly well known actors in this film. Of course, all the well known actors can’t save the film. It’s a flawed film that simply isn’t engaging enough to enjoy. It’s more or less a time filler itself. And that’s sad, considering the concept, though not entirely new, could have been dealt with in a more interesting way.