Review: Netflix’s Terrible Thriller Windfall Will Reassess Your Household Streaming Budget

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Windfall

Under the direction of Charlie McDowell

Written by Justin Lader and Andrew Kevin Walker

Starring Jason Segel, Lily Collins and Jesse Plemons

Classification R; 92 minutes

Streaming continues Netflix starting March 18th

If this weekend you have the desire to see three morally ambiguous characters flirting with themes of life and death in the space of a single room, then check out the brand new Rylance thriller. The Outfit. If, after watching that one-location movie, you still crave an internship experience on unwanted types, then, I do not know, please read David Mamet’s American Buffalo with your partner (your oldest child may be playing bobby, or maybe zoom in on a friend or two). Whatever you do, do not watch Netflix Windfall.

A “smart” movie that does nothing clever about its Hitchcockian opening credits, Windfall is a throwaway and eye-rolling effort that will allow you to re-evaluate your household streaming budget.

Taken aback by the solar eclipse vacation home of a billionaire tech tycoon, Windfall struggles to find dramatic tensions between three archetypes that are so characteristic that they are not at all equipped without character names: there is the Chief Executive (Jesse Plemons), the Woman (Lily Collins), and Keen (Jason Segel). When the movie opens, no one steals the property and is seconds away to leave safely before the homeowners leave for a last-minute weekend getaway. What emerges is a three-way standoff that stands for ethical and moral dilemmas, with nothing but sweaty palms coming up.

What’s worse: When the film finally comes to terms with something, everything, of interest – as the privilege of the few for the many may be ruined; not a particularly new concept at all, I realize – the moment is vanished by a “shocking” development that is so brutal, so unthinkable that the whole project stinks of faux-sincerity. I would spoil it for you, but maybe you should watch the scene yourself to see exactly what happens when bad ideas turn into very bad movies.

Finally, the most compelling secret of Windfall That’s why three talented performers signed up for this hollow exercise. OK, maybe it’s not much of a mystery at all. Sail has a “history of” credit here and previously worked with director Charlie McDowell on a similar high-concept / low-performing sci-fi indie The discovery. Collins is the simplest: she is married to McDowell. But Plemons? His participation is a real mystery – but please do not spend a second of your time solving it. Oh, wait, I just did it! McDowell has the pilot of About becoming God in Central Florida … who played with Plemons’ wife Kirsten Dunst. Well done everyone, let’s take a weekend off.

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