Send Help
- Ben Pivoz
- Jan 31
- 3 min read
Send Help is a survival thriller about a woman stranded on an island with her insufferable boss. Or is it about a spoiled nepo baby humbled by having to rely on an underling he recently humiliated in order to stay alive? Linda is a dedicated worker, but off-puttingly odd. Bradley is a jerk. She is at his mercy in the corporate world. On the island, she’s a survival expert and he has never worked hard a day in his life. Now she’s in charge and he does not like that.
There is some humor coming from the fact that neither of them are likable. He’s an obnoxious frat boy who pulls childish power plays and pouts when he doesn’t get his way. She is an awkward person to talk to and becomes increasingly unhinged as the movie goes on. It is difficult to care about what happens to Linda and Bradley, yet the screenplay has a few darkly amusing charms nonetheless. It mines the role reversal for several good moments, especially her pleasure at turning the tables on him. Unfortunately, the final act is underwhelming, ending things on a middling note. The rest of Send Help (106 minutes, without the end credits), isn’t strong enough to make up for that.
This is a mildly entertaining, surprisingly bloody (squeamish beware), movie that is probably too gruesome for the drama crowd and not nearly suspenseful enough for the thriller crowd. It occupies an unsuccessful middle ground in uneven dark comedy, though it contains enough cleverness to not be a total waste. Plus, the location is nice to look at.
Linda is a trusted workhorse at her company, who has been promised a promotion to VP. When the boss dies, his arrogant, shallow, son, Bradley, takes over, giving that promotion to someone far less deserving. When Linda is condescendingly invited on a business trip (so she can do all the work and the guys can take all the credit), the plane crashes, leaving Linda and an injured Bradley alone in the middle of nowhere as the only survivors.
The twist is that Linda is an authority on exactly this kind of situation, who has always wanted to be a contestant on the tv show Survivor. She is instantly thriving, creating shelter and finding food/water. Rachel McAdams is funny in the moments where Linda does not even bother to hide her delight at the way she excels in their harrowing predicament. She was invisible in her normal life, but here her knowledge and skillset give her all the power. This aspect of Send Help is intriguing because the shift in dynamics occurs without either of the characters changing the way they act. Linda continues to work very hard and Bradley expects everything to be done for him. It is the meaning of this behavior that is different.
Director Sam Raimi, who made his name in horror, uses buckets of blood as a way of accentuating how comfortable Linda is and how out of his element Bradley is. Linda is practically beaming while soaked in boar guts. Bradley nearly cries from the damage the sun does to his perfect skin. This is a woman who has been held down by corporate misogyny, using those same tactics to exert control over someone who got ahead due to what his father had done.
Rachel McAdams and Dylan O’Brien are game for the over-the-top plot turns, with no concerns about getting the audience to root for them. It is kind of enjoyable because of the unpredictability of Raimi’s choices; it is calm one second, completely chaotic the next. It doesn’t quite get ridiculous enough to be good, yet some scenes come close.
2¾ out of 5
Cast:
Rachel McAdams as Linda Liddle
Dylan O’Brien as Bradley Preston
Directed by Sam Raimi
Written by Damian Shannon and Mark Swift
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