Review of See How They Run (2022) by Theredsky — 22 Oct 2022

This was definitely pitched to Searchlight as “What if Wes Anderson made Knives Out”. That sounds like a really fun concept but unfortunately this movie lacks the charm of both Knives Out and Wes Anderson and the good characters of Knives Out with more of an emphasis on the Wes Anderson part.

So now this movie is stuck in a rut of being overshadowed by much better projects. These characters are paper thin. Most of them are identified by one discernible trait that doesn’t get developed or played with other than Sam Rockwell’s character.

It’s definitely trying to go for that Wes Anderson dry humor and performance but it doesn’t work here because it isn’t a Wes Anderson movie. Most of the actors are just okay with Saoirse Ronan feeling like the only actor putting in effort.

The story here is definitely mimicking a play as the core of this story is centered around a play but it doesn’t fully go into that. The story isn’t set in one location or anything like that which the movie wants to do and the actual story itself doesn’t have any satisfying clues.

The reveal itself is incredibly underwhelming because all the “clues” they leave aren’t really clues so the reveal comes out of nowhere in the worst way. This was very disappointing but it was clear to me that there was effort put into how the film looked.

The production design, cinematography and lighting are all very well done but the story lets everything down. Just watch Knives Out or a Wes Anderson movie instead of this.