directed by:
David St. Clair written by: David St. Clair genre: Thriller, Romance |
As a guy who grew up in the era of liner notes and reading the backs of VHS show-boxes long ago, the write-ups and synopses of a film still have a massive impact on whether or not I feel like I’d want to watch something. I know I’m not everyone in that regard, but we should still be holding that descriptive space to a high standard, shouldn’t we? When I’m reading about “The Lonely Crowd” and how “Peter and Ashley’s online date devolves into the old and tiring man-versus-woman argument,” I get worried! I don’t wanna be tired out by a movie any more than you do. This one got weirder, though. “When Ashley storms out, Peter finds her being harassed and steps in…” - like…I know I’m old, but how do you storm out of an online date? Asking for several friends more than capable of making several mistakes in online dating.
Anyhow. I suppose the point is that first impressions often come through those short descriptions of a film, and to be truthful, I don’t know that I would have picked up “The Lonely Crowd” with only the info I had going into watching it, but as an old-school video store guy, it’s also not my first rodeo. Sometimes you just gotta push play and see where something goes, you know? It’s not long before we’re at the arranged online date in physical form where Peter meets Ashley, and lemme tell ya, when you meet her for yourself, you’ll be amazed that it’s HER supposedly going to walk out on HIM. Knowing that tidbit of information already before I started to watch, I ended up becoming quite interested in how “The Lonely Crowd” would get going, because despite her obvious good looks, Ashley seems like the kind of woman that you should probably RUN from. She’s aggressive, direct, confrontational…who doesn’t love that kind of combination in a personality when you’re trying to get to know someone, right? “You’re intimidated by a woman who takes charge,” she says. To which I respond on behalf of Peter, “No, I just don’t like dicks.” Some spoilers ahead. The fact that Peter isn’t the one storming out of this restaurant is practically a minor miracle of sorts. To be fair to Ashley’s character, she’s being played perfectly by Taylor Anne Danehower. I always like to remind myself of that anytime I feel like I can’t stand a character onscreen - that’s how they’re meant to be portrayed, and if you really don’t like’em, that actually means they’re doing a really damn good job. I also felt that Peter, played by Adam Wesley, felt like an immediately watchable dude. Kind of like a low-key version of a Jake Gyllenhaal to a degree, but there’s just something about Adam I think viewers will easily connect with and respond to. As Peter gets caught up in Ashley’s story, trying to defend her against someone seemingly random who gets violent with her in the parking lot, he ends up getting cuffed to a steering wheel & becoming the chaperone for the night instead of being on a date like he originally planned. It’s at this point where I’m much more interested in what’s taken a sharp turn from being what might have been a disastrous Rom-Com into a Thriller/Mystery, but I’m also simultaneously begging the powers that be to prevent this from being another film where someone like Ashley’s character was in on it all along. Time will tell, of course, but credit where credit is due, “The Lonely Crowd” picks up speed as this strange threesome travels together, and things get more complicated quickly as the house that is supposed to contain the money they’re searching for isn’t even there anymore, agitating their robber even more. Dude ends up locking them in a storage locker, potentially thwarting the momentum this movie had. For me, the smaller the space, the more I tend to like a film for some strange reason, my wife will never be able to understand or explain. As Ashley and Peter have no other choice but to get to know each other even better, we learn that she does, in fact, know where the money is hidden, but so far, she’s still in the clear as to really being part of any setup. Now, if you’ve ever seen this kind of film before, you know that things are going to continue to spiral out of control, and of course, they do. Peter’s kind of forced to play the role of detective & try to figure out what he’s really up against before it’s all too late. He’s doin’ alright with it…he’s taking the information and asking questions as they come to him, but you can also tell that it wasn’t his intention to be solving crimes tonight. Writer/Director David St. Clair has done well with plying his film with side characters that keep us engaged and the plot moving…folks like Phil (Jon Oshei) and Charlie (Andrew Mena) make the most of their time onscreen. Ashley still seems to be about as likable as she was when we first met her, so the real mystery to me is how an uncuffed Peter is still hanging out with her after all the BS that they’ve been through so far. Surely whatever danger could be coming his way can’t be as bad as she is.
Around the halfway mark, I felt like “The Lonely Crowd” had covered a decent amount of ground, and for the most part, the story moves in a fairly cohesive way that the masses can follow. There’s nothing overly complicated about anything you’ll see - it’s a little meat & potatoes in that regard, but by the same token, it’s not the kind of story that’s calling out for any major earth-shakers either. Jake (Giancarlo Carmona) is a little concerning as the end-level boss…he seems more like a pissed-off ex-boyfriend than any kind of notable criminal mastermind. Ashley’s character has a few peaks and valleys in consistency, where at times she’ll become a lot softer than the hardened personality we first encounter. Is that just the effect of falling for Peter, or an oversight on St. Clair’s part? Well, you’ll just have to tune in to find out. Maybe it’s just the black widow playing coy before making her move and devouring what’s left of Peter. So while it’s true that I spent the majority of this film shouting at the screen for Peter to run away from this nightmare scenario, the two main characters can’t seem to help but be pulled back together again. Even when Peter seems like he might finally be out of danger, for whatever reason, he’s like, Heck yeah, let’s run back towards the danger instead of away from it. I told ya, Ashley’s a pretty lady - and you can never underestimate how that’s going to affect the ability for a man to think rationally. “The Lonely Crowd” gets a little long in the search for the missing money that they’re after, though the supporting characters that St. Clair introduces are consistently fun to watch along the way. David’s movie continually moves further into the Romance genre and away from the more Mystery-driven plot, so be prepared for that. To his credit, St. Clair makes the shift gradual, which makes it easier for us to accept. You gotta figure that, as human beings, we still find ways to make light in even the darkest scenarios we face, so in that respect, it only seems fair that we allow Peter and Ashley to have a few moments where they aren’t thinking solely about the missing money they’re looking for. Does it go too far toward the Romance side of this film’s split-personality genre? I’d listen to that argument if it were made, but at the same time, I can recognize that “The Lonely Crowd” somewhat stumbles into a weird charm that seems to work. I might even go as far as to say the Romance aspect might even be a more effective part of the movie than the Thriller/Mystery atmosphere we’re first introduced to. I’m going with three stars out of five here. There’s nothing too shocking or surprising that happens, but the grand finale has a decent twist. “The Lonely Crowd” struggles most with finding a way to be unique enough to stand out from other films that might be deemed similar. Still, it’s entertaining enough to keep watching, and I felt like most folks would be pretty satisfied with how it all wraps up. Did I want a little more out of it? Sure! That’s fair to say. But if you read between the lines, a film’s synopsis will somehow always tell you what you’re really in store for, whether that’s intentional or not. Decent film, full stop. |
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