Title: Pretty Thing
MPA Rating: Not Rated
Director: Justin Kelly
Starring: Alicia Silverstone, Karl Glusman, Catherine Curtin
Runtime: 1 hr 36 mins

What It Is: Busy professional Sophie (Silverstone) notices handsome waiter Elliot (Glusman) at a party and decides he might be the perfect way to relieve some stress. What begins as a casual fling, however, quickly spirals into something far more dangerous. Elliot grows increasingly attached, and Sophie soon realizes that what seemed like a harmless liaison has become an obsession. The question is: how will she handle it—and does she even know how?

What We Think: It’s really nice to see Alicia Silverstone back on screen. I hadn’t caught her in anything since the Valley Girl remake, which feels like forever ago. Let’s be honest—she deserves more work, and she’s pretty great here. She and friend of the page Karl Glusman have good chemistry, but unfortunately, what they’re given to say isn’t all that compelling. Director Justin Kelly doesn’t exactly inject much energy either. The meandering story and listless direction weigh the film down, and that’s its biggest sin—it’s boring. For a thriller, that’s almost unforgivable. This is the kind of film 1980s audiences might have eaten up for a week, only to see it end up in the Kmart bargain bin months later. The actors deserve better than this.

Our Grade:C-, It’s a shame the material isn’t nearly as interesting as the characters the actors are trying to bring to life. Silverstone, in particular, deserves more and better roles. I also saw her in Bugonia, but even there she wasn’t given much to do in Yorgos’ new cinematic experiment. I can’t really recommend this one unless you’re a die-hard fan of ‘80s-style thrillers. Otherwise, it’s a skip. At least it runs a clean 96 minutes—that’s about the best thing it has going for it.