‘Windfall’ Review – Not The Noir Thriller It Wants To Be

Things are off to a deceptively gorgeous start in the 2022 thriller ‘Windfall’, if it weren’t for an ominous 60s style background score, you’d think it’s an alternative beginning to a romantic flick like ‘Call Me By Your Name’. There’s a beautiful vacation home, complete with a swimming pool surrounded by stone walls and white parasols. Then we spot an intruder, a man who clearly doesn’t belong.

Directed by Charlie McDowell, who’s also co-written the story with Jason Segel and Justin Lader, the film is a weak attempt at social satire. Jason Segel plays an unknown man who breaks into the vacation villa of a tech billionaire. Just when he was about to leave the property with some jewelry and cash, the owners turn up at the property on a surprise visit, ruining the stranger’s plan of looting and scooting.

The music by Danny Bensi and Saunder Juriaans is very old hollywood style, but it add a dramatic touch which doesn’t compliment the story unfolding on your screen. Jesse Simons and Lily Collins play the wealthy couple, who are trapped in their own property, and while they both deliver their roles per script, their characters are unbearable. And because as a viewer I couldn’t care less about what happens to two snooty rich folks, the movie gets boring midway. The creators try to address the issue of class divide, but the conversations between the rich man and poor man are too dry and mundane.

You have cliche after cliche stuffed in, there’s the rich arrogant white tech billionaire, a trophy wife who feels trapped in the relationship and an unsuspecting thief who was seconds away from a successful heist but now needs to deal with two unexpected witnesses. It’s almost like the intruder is the victim in this tale. The climax was on predictable line and I was glad the film was finally over.

It’s a 4/10 from me.