Film Review: Self Reliance

Seasoned comedy actor Jake Johnson tries his hand behind the camera in mildly amusing Self Reliance. Johnson also leads the film opposite Anna Kendrick (Pitch Perfect, A Simple Favor), both playing contestants in some twisted game of cat and mouse. If only Self Reliance leaned into a thriller meets comedy vibe, its premise could have been fulfilled. With omnipresent murderers supposedly always lurking, so much as a single moment of danger would instantly elevate the film. Instead, it ends up rather slight and unremarkable.

Produced by comedy legends The Lonely Island, Self Reliance begins as Andy Samberg the actor, starring as himself, commands Tommy (Johnson) to join him in a limo. As Andy soon explains, single, childless Tommy has been selected to participate in the biggest reality show on the dark web. He could be eligible to win $1,000,000 in cash—of course, there’s one major catch. In order to nab the funds, Tommy must survive thirty days being relentlessly pursued by people who want to murder him. What’s in it for the opposers never gets elaborated on much, but if Tommy is to have any hope of surviving, he may need to take advantage of a surprising loophole.

Tommy can only be killed if completely alone. In other words, making certain that every second of his daily routine gets spent surrounded by another human is genuinely vital to his survival. Not a single one of Tommy’s family believes his plight exists. He tries to hire a man to stay with him for the full thirty days and “shadow” him. The trajectory of Self Reliance changes in a major way from the second Tommy meets up with Maddy (Kendrick), a fellow contestant in the game. The two began a quick and easy love affair, with Maddy clinging to her mother in the hopes of making it out the contest on the other side.

Stylistically speaking, very little here sets itself apart from a number of indie comedies at any given film festival. There are no unique camera angles, nor do any exciting chase sequences or moments of genuine uncertainty about the game itself rear their head. A supporting cast of familiar faces, from Christopher Lloyd to Emily Hampshire, pop in here or there. They leave absolutely no major marks on the narrative as a whole.

To be honest, I expected a sharper, funnier movie from Jake Johnson. The premise screams with opportunities that Johnson does not embrace. That’s a real shame considering that the film itself is not atrocious or anything, and the cast mostly delivers. It’s more a matter of the parts not adding up to a satisfying whole. In some ways, Self Reliance reminded me of Charlie Day’s directorial effort from last year, Fool’s Paradise. I will say it manages to be a bit better than that, even if that’s not really saying much anyway.

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