Murder is an odd form of marriage counseling. Here’s a film that might have been fun if it hadn’t insisted on being so over-the-top. Psst, dudes, cold blooded murder isn’t funny. It just isn’t. I shouldn’t have to explain this. While there are exceptions to every rule, I don’t think they apply here, even in Norwegian. Oh yeah; we’re in Norway, which seems lovely when it’s not covered in blood.
Lars (Askel Hennie) and Lisa (Noomi Rapace – playing a Norwegian here; remind me to ask how much of a stretch that is for the Swedish actress) are an unhappy couple. Really, really unhappy. How unhappy? Well, they’ve gone on holiday –on The Trip– in the backwoods (isn’t all Norway backwoods?) to murder one another. Yeah, I could see that; I can’t imagine being married to either of these jokers without snapping.
Neither knows at the outset, of course, that they’re planning to murder one another … but we the audience get some hints exacerbated by an ugly game of Scrabble. Tip for polyglots out there – if you’re playing Norwegian rules Scrabble, don’t use Swedish words. You’re just askin’ for pain.
When it comes time for the big reveal, all knives out, all hands dealt, time to escalate spousal grievance to –um-resolution, so to speak, a bigger reveal happens: three escaped convicts show themselves, and they ain’t sympathetic.
Now, wait a minute, I’ve seen documentaries about Norwegian prisons – isn’t it just like advance day care? Even that dude who shot up an entire summer camp isn’t rotting in a dank, lightless dungeon. How hardened can Norwegian criminals be? How desperate to escap
e prison can they be? I suppose my perception doesn’t matter. What we have is three bullies who suddenly take over the scene and the result is blood and rhetoric.
I didn’t really like either Lars or Lisa and now you’re asking me to consider the POV of escaped cons into bloodletting? Yeah, good luck with that. I get that this is somebody’s idea of a fun ride: “Hey, what if a couple is trying to kill each other when horrible people show up?” But as it plays, there a five major characters in this film and no matter how much background you gave me, I disliked all of them and then you shot somebody relatively innocent in the back. Thanks, movie.
I’m sure this film was intended to be a –more- comic version of Mr. & Mrs. Smith, but with all the unnecessary gore, it comes off more as what might happen if Guy Ritchie were Norwegian. If that sounds like a compliment, it isn’t. The movie sought to give us POVs from several otherwise unsympathetic characters, and then they shoved one another into the blades of an electric lawnmower anyway. As a result, I found the film unsatisfying and a little stomach-turning.
A married couple with a vacation twist
Doesn’t have “love” on their list
Each planned to waste
The other, post haste
You two might just need a therapist
Rated TV-MA, 113 Minutes
Director: Tommy Wirkola
Writer: Tommy Wirkola, Nick Ball, John Niven
Genre: Something happened on the way to the murder
Type of being most likely to enjoy this film: Netflix junkies
Type of being least likely to enjoy this film: Those who cringe
