Worth: $17.50
FilmInk rates movies out of $20 — the score indicates the amount we believe a ticket to the movie to be worth
Cast:
Nick Stahl, Tamsin Topolski, Juan Carlos Messier, Brian Groh, Penelope Mitchell, Randy Vasquez
Intro:
Tense, horrific and anxiety inducing, What You Wish For is a stark reminder to always be thankful for what you have in life.
Someone, perhaps it was the Three Billy Goats Gruff, once said that the grass always appears greener on the other side. We’re all guilty of eyeing up someone’s successes and stacking them up against our wants; the things they have that would benefit our lives. Of course, things aren’t always as they first appear, which the protagonist of What You Wish For, directed by Australian expat Nicholas Tomnay (The Perfect Host), soon finds out.
When we meet him, Ryan (Nick Stahl) has only been in an undisclosed Latin American country for five minutes and already, he’s sweating. It’s not so much down to the heat, but due to the money lenders back home who are harassing him for a large debt that he owes. As well as being a talented chef, Nick is apparently a very bad gambler.
Fortunately, his friend and fellow chef, Jack (Brian Groh) is on hand to offer beer and company in his palatial home. To Ryan, Jack has got it made, being paid large wads of money to go from country to country cooking up feasts for people with more money than sense. Jack insists that he really does miss his humbler past and would trade it for anything. When an opportunity arises, Ryan takes on Jack’s identity in the hopes of making some quick cash and discovers what Jack has really been up to.
It’s best to go in as cold as possible to Tomnay’s sophomore feature, though keen viewers will likely pick up where the film is taking us. Similar in tone to Stanley Ellis’ short story, The Speciality of The House, Jack’s employers, Imogene (Tamsin Topolski) and Maurice (Juan Carlos Messier) are both darkly absurd and disturbingly grounded. With each roadblock that gets in the way of their perfect dinner, they handle it as if it were nothing more than chasing an invoice. As mouthpieces for the larger company that hires them all, Imogene is able to justify their practices with a mention of giving back to the community through generous donations. It’s easy to see them as stand ins for the conglomerates who strip a place of its resources, but it’s okay folks, because they employ the locals on less than minimum wage.
While our culinary antagonists are a delight to watch, it really needs to be highlighted how much this is Stahl’s film. As his new identity becomes more and more dangerous, you can only watch helplessly as Ryan slaps on a grin over his anxiety, like a plaster over a dam leak, and just keeps cooking. Sure, Ryan isn’t wholly innocent, we know that from the get-go.
However, the combination of Tomnay’s screenplay and Stahl’s performance yield enough sympathy. As things begin to spiral out of control, Stahl only allows Ryan’s passivity to slip when he’s alone. In these moments, Ryan is a man completely aware that any control he had over the situation has long since dissipated.
Tense, horrific and anxiety inducing, What You Wish For is a stark reminder to always be thankful for what you have in life.
