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Kate Knibbs

Netflix’s Windfall Is a Perfect Class-Rage Noir

Lily Collins Jesse Plemons and Jason Segel standing in a doorway in production still from Windfall on Netflix

Ever notice how the houses of the ultra-wealthy look like nobody lives in them? There’s an eerie quality, the opposite of hominess. Netflix ’s new movie Windfall opens with a long, lingering shot of a mansion’s poolside patio furniture, straight out of an Architectural Digest spread. Birds chirp, flowers bloom, the outdoor coffee table is a solid slab of concrete. It all screams expensive. In a long, wordless scene, we follow a nameless man (Jason Segel, credited as “Nobody”) as he wanders around this gorgeous property, sipping iced coffee by the pool and eventually walking into the empty home. Its rooms are as posh as the grounds, with Spanish tile, pristine plaster walls, and abstract pottery everywhere. The man almost leaves, then doesn’t. Instead, he returns to the house and starts looting. He fastens a Rolex around his wrist, collects jewelry, stuffs all the cash he can find into the pockets of his ratty pants. This is a burglary, albeit a laconic one. The thief is on his way out when the owners show up for a last-minute romantic getaway. They catch him before he manages to sneak out. And although this man is a total amateur, he piles crime on top of crime, taking the well-heeled couple hostage.

The owners, a tech billionaire (Jesse Plemons) and his chic wife (Lily Collins), attempt to reason with the burglar, offering him whatever he can grab. They almost succeed in getting him to leave. But when “Nobody” suspects he’s been caught on tape, he asks for enough money to start a new life, so the trio must wait around for a half a million in cash to be delivered the next day. As they watch the clock, the burglar and his captives stroll around the pretty, sun-dappled grounds, meandering through its expansive orange grove, sitting around a fancy fire pit, snippily making conversation. The billionaire can’t believe what an oaf his captor is and finds any excuse to needle him. We learn that the origin of the billionaire’s fortune is an algorithm for layoffs and that he doesn’t feel bad about having created it; he wastes little time asking the thief if he was one of the unlucky who lost their jobs because of his work. And the burglar is an oaf; he struggles to unclasp the wife’s purse, can’t keep his boots tied, and has tantrums every time something doesn’t go his way, which is frequently. Meanwhile, as the wife plays peacemaker between the two men, she starts to stew on the state of her marriage.

Director Charlie McDowell excels in putting unhappy couples through their paces during would-be secluded retreats. In his 2014 film The One I Love , another husband and wife encounter unexpected strangers at a dreamy vacation home while attempting to revive their relationship. But whereas The One I Love had a science-fiction twist, Windfall is propelled by a real-life crisis: the gaping chasm between the incredibly rich and the rest of us, and the impossibility of bridging it unscathed. Despite its gleaming setting, Windfall strikes the tone of a noir, its story suffused with a cynicism as sweeping as the vistas its mansion overlooks.

Watching Segel’s burglar bumble his way into increasingly grim circumstances, I was reminded of The Edukators , the 2004 German-Austrian crime drama about a trio of young radicals who decide to teach the wealthy a lesson by breaking into their homes just to unsettle them. But while The Edukators has sympathy for its underclass, Windfall is pitiless. It would’ve been easy for this film to slide into a morality play—poor schlub robs rich assholes, hurrah!—but it’s no triumph of the proles. If anything, it’s a testimony to the amorality of the universe, a Fargo with no Marge Gunderson in sight. Segel’s burglar isn’t a modern Robin Hood; he’s just a doofus who summoned up enough courage to commit a robbery and enough foolishness to get greedy and ask for more. Although its characters are presented as archetypes, there is no hero here.

For the first hour, Windfall plays like a dark comedy. The burglar’s ineptitude fuels some funny moments, like when he’s demanding more money and asks for $150,000 in cash. The wealthy people he’s extorting tell him he’ll need more than that if he’s trying to create a whole new identity. Nobody in the trio seems violent, and they’re all more annoyed than scared. Collins’ wife isn’t an innocent ensnared so much as a person slowly realizing that the terms of her deal with the devil weren’t really so favorable. Plemons’ billionaire, cocky and contemptuous, is technically a victim yet so viscerally unpleasant that it is hard to muster sympathy when he gets tied up and looted.

But hostage situations rarely end with everyone going off on their merry ways unscathed. I won’t say more about what unfolds, except that there is a scene about 70 minutes in that shocked me so much I leapt off my couch. (Gore-averse, be forewarned!) Jokes aside, this is a tart, nasty little thriller. Despite its modest scale, it leaves a powerfully astringent aftertaste.

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Windfall Reviews

Although Windfall's efforts to not be “more of the same” is what makes it entertaining, the fact that the movie ends with a forced climax that's typical of the genre that it tried so hard to undermine is even more frustrating. [Full review in Spanish]

Full Review | Dec 5, 2023

Windfall embodies a classic noir suspense story, fraught with some incredible character performances from Jesse Plemons, Lily Collins, and Jason Segel

Full Review | Original Score: 9/10 | Jan 4, 2023

Terrible, talky three-hander...A good idea squandered, waste of a top cast. Chalk it up as a dud.

Full Review | Original Score: 1/5 | Oct 15, 2022

From the retro font and music of the opening titles, Windfall announces itself as a throwback, Hitchcock-esque thriller, and proceeds, in its tidy runtime, to deliver.

Full Review | Oct 11, 2022

What could’ve been an unequivocal thrill transgresses into a languid chamber piece loaded with dramatic tedium and rote acting...

Full Review | Aug 18, 2022

The performances are good as Segel, Collins, and Plemons make the most of what they’re given. But the commentary is uninspired and barely explored. And the vague hints of tension aren’t enough to make this throwback thriller as good as it could have been.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/5 | Aug 16, 2022

A modest, intriguing little crime drama that lets Jesse Plemons kind of take over for stretches and do his thing, which I always approve of.

Full Review | Jun 9, 2022

While the production design and editing of the opening vaguely excite us with presenting Hitchcock-inspired cinema, the suspense never becomes impetuous enough to even [deserve] referencing it. [Full review in Spanish]

Full Review | May 20, 2022

while Windfall is opportunistic in a good way, it still isn’t quite good enough to overcome its intended limitations

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | May 10, 2022

McDowell leans on looks between the performers and well-framed scenes to build suspense and distrust in the audience from the very beginning. And casting an enormous sweetheart like

Full Review | Original Score: 60/100 | Apr 18, 2022

If the trio of well-known actors distracts with low-key entertainment value for the film's brief 92-minute runtime, none of it manages to hold much weight.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/4 | Apr 15, 2022

Windfall is a huge misfire. Its that kind of desensitized picture that proves unworthy of a big screen experience.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Apr 13, 2022

Whether or not this is a good movie should be the new, "What color is this dress?"

Full Review | Original Score: B | Apr 11, 2022

You could make the argument that the pacing of Windfall undershoots methodical and lands in the range of plodding. I wouldn't necessarily agree...if you're expecting a fast-paced ride, this probably isn't for you.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Apr 7, 2022

McDowell creates a refined and arresting one-room thriller that doesnt quite land its intended thematic punch.

Full Review | Apr 5, 2022

Its basic conceit is intriguing but Windfall doesn’t quite make the most of its potentially interesting premise.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/5 | Apr 4, 2022

Windfall is an unfortunately average crime thriller that heavily borrows the pace and styling of films from the classic era.

Full Review | Apr 1, 2022

The final twist is a shocker.

If you have low expectations they will be met.

Full Review | Original Score: C+ | Apr 1, 2022

A little bit by the books, but a good cast.

Full Review | Mar 30, 2022

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Intense noir thriller has suspense, language, violence.

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

The characters all show compassion at moments but

The husband is a rich White man, which he says mea

Tension throughout. The burglar ties up the couple

A married couple kisses and suggests going to the

Lots of use of "f--k," "s--t," "goddamn it," "hell

Positive Role Models

The characters all show compassion at moments but contempt and violent impulses at others. The husband has built a successful business and is billed as a "disruptor," but he can come across as selfish, controlling, and egotistical. The gardener takes pride in his work.

Diverse Representations

The husband is a rich White man, which he says means he walks around with a permanent target on his back. The gardener is Mexican-American.

Did we miss something on diversity? Suggest an update.

Violence & Scariness

Tension throughout. The burglar ties up the couple's feet and hands, locks them in a sauna, and chases and threatens them with a gun. Violent, bloody death takes place.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Sex, Romance & Nudity

A married couple kisses and suggests going to the bedroom. They discuss trying to have a baby. There's mention of birth control and reference to paying off girls despite nondisclosure agreements.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.

Lots of use of "f--k," "s--t," "goddamn it," "hell," "sucks," "idiot."

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that Windfall is a mature mystery with some bloody scenes and a lot of language. The violence isn't appropriate for younger viewers, and a burglar with a gun who has people tied up threatens to get violent from the start of the film. There are also some mature themes about income inequality and people getting rich off technology that can negatively impact thousands. A husband and wife kiss and discuss trying to have a baby. There's also mention of birth control and of paying women off despite nondisclosure agreements. The characters repeatedly use "f--k," "s--t," "goddamn it," "hell," "sucks," and "idiot." To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

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Based on 1 parent review

Deeper storyline with something to learn from it.

What's the story.

In WINDFALL, a man ( Jason Segel ) has broken into a luxury home and is wasting time enjoying its amenities when the owners, a husband ( Jesse Plemons ) and wife ( Lily Collins ), show up unexpectedly. The burglar has to figure out his next moves now that the pair have seen his face. He completes his robbery, but then more unexpected events lead him to return to the house and take the couple hostage, seeking more and more in return. Meanwhile, the husband, a tech billionaire, is trying to figure out why he's been targeted specifically, and the wife can't hide her general displeasure with her partner.

Is It Any Good?

This intentionally Hitchcockian mystery successfully builds a stifling atmosphere of tension that doesn't resolve until the very last scene. The threat of violence hovers over Windfall like the hot air you imagine imbues the dry California setting. But when it comes, it still takes you by surprise -- and that would seem to be the point. Windfall's script is constructed in such a way that not a lot happens and even less is revealed about the characters, yet it draws you into the mystery of what you do know. Who is the burglar, why has he chosen this house, and what's behind the added layer of tension between the couple? The film's title hints at further themes of economic injustice -- coming into serious money in unethical if not illegal ways.

Early on, it's hard to know how dark the film will get. The characters -- backed by understated performances -- are surprisingly relaxed and even agreeable at moments, and there are fleeting hints of comedy. The gorgeous, sun-filled vacation home -- with its white-washed walls, luxuriously rustic pool and gardens, and seemingly infinite citrus orchards -- conveys an openness and lightness despite the claustrophobic setup of characters stuck together against their will. Opening scenes set to ambient noise capture the setting from a series of unusual angles and show a man wandering around enjoying the amenities. From this start, a feeling of unease is underscored by the contrast of setting and story, puzzling characters, and suspenseful instrumental music. While the combination may feel too studied or too intentional for some viewers, it works if you settle in and go along for the ride.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about Windfall's concept of a film with just three main characters and one setting. Have you watched other films like this? Do you miss more characters, action, or locations? Why or why not?

Does the film feel claustrophobic? Is that intentional? Can you think of any shots or specific camera angles that add to that feeling?

Did you expect any of the film's plot twists? How does the script make viewers think the outcome will be different?

How would you describe the music in this film? What feelings does it convey?

Movie Details

On DVD or streaming : March 18, 2022
Cast : Jason Segel , Lily Collins , Jesse Plemons
Director : Charlie McDowell
Inclusion Information : Female actors
Studio : Netflix
Genre : Thriller
Run time : 94 minutes
MPAA rating : R
MPAA explanation : language throughout and some violence
Last updated : February 17, 2023

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Lily collins and jesse plemons in netflix’s ‘windfall’: film review.

Jason Segel also stars as a burglar surprised by the return of a multibillionaire and his wife to their isolated vacation home in Charlie McDowell’s thriller.

By David Rooney

David Rooney

Chief Film Critic

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LILY COLLINS as WIFE, JESSE PLEMONS as CEO and JASON SEGEL as NOBODY in WINDFALL.

If you find the obscenely rich tech CEO played by Jesse Plemons in Windfall hard to believe, with his noxious comments about “a world full of lazy fucking loafers and freeloaders,” you might want to check out recent remarks by Kim Kardashian for an equally contemptuous variation on that theme. Watching Plemons do an about-face from gentle George in The Power of the Dog and sink his teeth into a smarmy creep who makes the mistake of believing his privilege renders him invulnerable is the chief pleasure of Charlie McDowell ’s twisty thriller about wealth inequality. But this is a sharply directed and well-acted project that makes a virtue of its modest concept.

Full credits

Distribution: Netflix Production companies: High Frequency Entertainment, Case Study Films, in association with Mutressa Movies Cast: Jason Segel, Lily Collins, Jesse Plemons, Omar Leyva Director: Charlie McDowell Screenwriters: Justin Lader, Andrew Kevin Walker Story: Charlie McDowell, Jason Segel, Justin Lader, Andrew Kevin Walker Producers: Jack Selby, Lily Collins, Jesse Plemons, Charlie McDowell, Jason Segel, Duncan Montgomery, Alex Orlovsky Executive producers: David Duque-Estrada, Rick Covert, Elika Portnoy, Justin Lader, Andrew Kevin Walker Director of photography: Isiah Donté Lee Production designer: Andrew Clark Costume designer: Megan Gray Music: Danny Bensi, Saunder Jurriaans Editor: David Marks Sound designer: Frank Gaeta

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Windfall review: jesse plemons shines in well-crafted netflix thriller.

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Windfall is a coherent and cohesive thriller that dabbles with dark comedy and benefits from having a small cast and a beautiful single location. Directed and co-written by Charlie McDowell, the film follows Jesse Plemons and Lily Collins as an unnamed married couple and Jason Segel as a man who breaks into their vacation home somewhere in California. What begins as an absurd home burglary gone wrong turns into a battle of wills between the trio as they navigate a precarious situation.

As good as the trio is, Windfall belongs to Jesse Plemons . He plays an obnoxious, rich tech bro who has hoarded an insane amount of wealth for himself while building a program that eliminates entire workforces. He is not one to cheer for, which is a root cause for the tension in the film. It is a layered role that is constantly shifting. In one moment, Plemons will be sarcastic asshole who isn’t much to think about before shifting into a menacing egomaniac who clearly exhibits a dangerous mentality that is ruining the world. Plemons' charisma is palpable, which makes it seem like his co-stars are chasing after him throughout the film.

Related: Jason Segel Robs Jesse Plemons & Lily Collins In Netflix's Windfall Trailer

Collins' performance is more subdued, balancing the conditional benevolence of a rich white woman with a character who is aware of her contradictions and the sacrifices she has made to be wealthy. Segel is a bit of a jack of all trades here, balancing a goofy, dangerous, and sad portrayal of a desperate man.The other star of this film is Danny Bensi and Saunder Jurriaanss’ score, which kicks off the characters' two-day journey. It is the kind of score that is meant to be noticed because it has character. The score builds the tension, unease, suspense, and comedy in every given moment, pulling audiences in rather than taking them out of the experience. Paired with McDowell’s controlled directing choices, it allows the actors to take up more space to thrive.

Windfall is an excellent example of the Chekhov's gun principle. It is as if McDowell constructed the entire film around this dramatic principle, which suggests that every element in a story must be necessary. Key details are referred to a couple of times, each revealing components about the characters that will be relevant to their fates. Some details are merely distractions from the clear path this story will take, diversions that make one wonder, “Is this what it's all about?” The film could only succeed by balancing a narrative built on clues and callbacks — and it works. For others, Windfall may be too simplistic or overindulgent. The latter is justified by a predictable ending that is, in fact, indulgent, but not to the film's detriment.

However, McDowell, alongside co-producers Plemons, Collins, and Segel make a fatal error in the third act. Depending on the how the audience takes it, it will either ruin the film entirely or be an unfortunate blemish to overlook upon a rewatch. Windfall does seem like the type to get better upon a rewatch when viewers are in the know about the outcome. But the decision to introduce another person in the third act and have them exist solely to ratchet up tension is badly executed. It plays into a trope most commonly found in horror that has been much maligned for a reason. This choice obviously serves to underscore Collins and Segel’s characters ' empathetic nature in contrast with Plemons’ self-serving attributes, but it ultimately comes across as a gross miscalculation.

All in all, Windfall is a modest little thriller that thrives on excellent performances from its cast, a confident director at the helm, and a score that keeps up the momentum from beginning to end. A stumble in the third act derails the whole adventure, bringing the enjoyment to a screeching halt. However, with some foresight, Windfall could have been a sure-fire hit.

NEXT: Against The Ice Review: Coster-Waldau Leads Gritty, Searing Arctic Adventure

Windfall is streaming on Netflix as of Friday, March 18. The film is 93 minutes long and is rated R for language and violence.

Directed by Charlie McDowell, Windfall is a 2022 Thriller and Crime film starring Jesse Plemons, Jason Segel, and Lily Collins. The Netflix release sees a burglar targeting a CEO and his wife.

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Movie Reviews
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Windfall Review

18 Mar 2022

Windfall doesn’t hang about. After a lovely, Art Deco-styled opening-credits sequence, complete with a Hitchcockian score from Danny Bensi and Saunder Jurriaans, consciously telegraphing the tradition being doffed at here, we get right into the action. In the initial seconds of the film, a man (like all four characters in this film, never named) played by Jason Segel breaks into a swanky second home. With a scruffy beard and a wild look in his eyes, he does not look like a master criminal with a master plan. There’s none of the gentle, kind warmth you might have seen in his earlier comedies or sitcoms. Segel establishes a panicky, chaotic energy that the film very nearly manages to sustain.

Even best-laid plans go awry, and the plan is evidently not well-thought-out, but our hero perseveres, even when the owners of the house he breaks into turn up. There’s some enjoyable tension as it becomes clear everyone is improvising their way through proceedings; the script (Segel is credited as a co-writer) takes pains to make the motivations and movements feel believable.

After a sweaty first act, the dramatic stakes lose some of their lustre as the film becomes more talky.

As the couple subject to a break-in, Jesse Plemons and Lily Collins do a lot with what could easily be ‘rich arsehole’ stereotypes. He plays an Elon Musk/Jeff Bezos type — an arch-capitalistic billionaire who complains about “loafers and freeloaders” and maintains a victim complex about being a wealthy white dude. She is more philanthropically minded, though still coming from a clear place of privilege (it’s a role that plays nicely on Collins’ Emily In Paris legacy), shrugging off numbers like $100,000. It brushes against some social commentary about the haves and have-nots, but this is too much of a minimalist genre exercise to make any grandstanding point.

This is essentially a three-hander, in one location, and director Charlie McDowell doesn’t always successfully escape the staginess of that set-up. After a sweaty first act, the dramatic stakes lose some of their lustre as the film becomes more talky. It comes back to life when fuses start to shorten, and blood starts to get spilled — a couple of rug pulls in the final minutes have a bit of oomph to them. At a lean 92 minutes, Windfall doesn’t overstay its welcome, doesn’t ask too much of the viewer, and won’t linger too long in the memory— and sometimes, that’s fine.

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Windfall review: A home-invasion thriller falls short

The crime is coming from inside the house in Netflix's underbaked noir, starring Jason Segel, Lily Collins, and Jesse Plemons.

Three people are trapped in a house and so are you in Windfall (on Netflix Friday), an itchy, underdeveloped chamber piece whose sour tone aims for something between social satire and neo-noir thriller, but lands mostly on real estate porn.

Jason Segel is an anonymous and clearly amateur burglar just wrapping up a quickie job at a remote vacation home — he's already grabbed cash, a Rolex, and a little light refreshment, along with a Chekhovian gun from the bedside table — when the owners ( Jesse Plemons and Lily Collins ) abruptly show up. Instead of accepting their eager offer of whatever money and valuables are on hand, he decides to stay put for a bigger payout, kicking off an enforced bonding exercise in which cold peanut-butter sandwiches and much conversational oxygen will be consumed.

A good portion of that will be by Plemons, who also goes unnamed as a floridly smug tech mogul whose vast fortune stems from inventing some kind of algorithm that "trims the fat" (i.e. humans) from corporations; Emily in Paris star Lily Collins trails behind as his quieter, vaguely discomfited wife. Both seem remarkably casual about the man literally holding a gun to their heads, and Plemons' character particularly can't seem to stop needling Segel's, even on immediate threat of death; he's just too used to a world that exists solely to serve him, and this inconvenience does not compute.

With little to do but wait for an assistant to deliver the agreed-upon ransom, Mogul Man blithely holds forth on his general philosophy of life — Ayn Rand, one presumes, would heartily approve — as the long minutes tick by. Segel's would-be hustler, shaggy and glowering, looks increasingly like he'd rather be anywhere else; he's like a circus bear who would very much like to wipe the floor with the trainer who keeps yapping at him but stoically endures. Collins, on her screen husband's art-of-war instruction, makes a wan play to engage him, but each one of them is so assured of their own supreme victim status that they're hardly communicating so much as monologuing past one another.

At least they can enjoy the view: It's nearly impossible not to let your eyes wander to the sprawling grounds and Instagrammable decor of the immaculate Ojai compound the movie is shot at; nearly every painting on the wall looks like it could single-handedly pay down Segel's character's debts, if that's what he came for. Except he's as bad at criming — poor decision-making is a consistent hallmark of the script, by Justin Lader and Andrew Kevin Walker — as his captives are at acknowledging their powerlessness. And the entrance of a fourth player, an unsuspecting gardener (Omar Leyva), tips the fragile détente, though he too can't seem to stop doing things no rational person would, largely in the service of keeping the sputtering plot on track.

Director Charlie McDowell is probably best known for directing 2014's The One I Love , a clever, eerie little indie forged in a similar hothouse atmosphere. (He also happens to be Collins' real-life spouse.) Windfall (on Netflix this Friday) relies on that same kind of closeness to concentrate and accelerate its central conflicts, but its characters are such broadly underdeveloped archetypes, and their decisions are so generally confounding, that reality never really enters the equation. Its thoughts on class warfare and the complacent villainy of the one percent, too, don't feel particularly fresh or trenchant in the recent wake of far sharper takes by the likes of Parasite and HBO's White Lotus .

Segel earns some empathy as a hangdog Everyman, though his backstory remains such a deliberate blank that any insight is mostly gleaned from his blundering missteps and low-simmering misery. An improbable incident late in the third act finally brings real consequences, and the last ten minutes are grimly satisfying. But it doesn't bode well for storytelling that the setting often overwhelms the slackness of the narrative. For all the supposed stakes on screen, Windfall often feels less like a fully formed movie than the quick work of film crew who arrived to shoot one of those Architectural Digest videos about gorgeously appointed homes you can't afford, accidentally stumbled into a hostage situation, and decided to make the best of it. So what's left, mostly, is just to watch these unhappy people bicker and parry, and wish you had their pillows. Grade: C-

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A documentary named "Windfall" has taken the wind out of my sails. Assuming it can be trusted (and many of its claims seem self-evident), wind turbines are a blight upon the land and yet another device by which energy corporations and Wall Street, led by the always reliable Goldman Sachs, are picking the pockets of those who can least afford it. There is even some question whether wind energy uses more power than it generates.

Director Laura Israel's film is set almost entirely in Meredith, N.Y., a farming area of some 2,000 people in a beautiful Catskills landscape. A few dairy and beef farms still survive, but many of the residents are now retired people who have come here with their dreams. Most of them were once "of course" in favor of wind power, which offered the hope of clean, cheap energy. When an Irish corporation named Airtricity came around offering land owners $5,000, neighbors $500 apiece and the town a 2 percent cut of the revenue, that was a win-win, right?

So it appeared. But some residents, including a former editor for an encyclopedia and the final photo editor of Life magazine, began doing some research. The town board set up an energy advisory panel, and after a year of study, it recommended the town refuse the Airtricity offer. The town board rejected the panel's finding. One of them recused himself because of his personal holdings in energy. The others saw no conflict.

This generated a furor in Meredith, and we meet people who were best friends for years and now were no longer on speaking terms. We watch board meetings and meet lots of locals; the film bypasses the usual expert talking heads and relies on the personal experiences of these individuals.

I learned that wind turbines are unimaginably larger than I thought. It's not a matter of having a cute little windmill in your backyard. A turbine is 400 feet tall, weighs 600,000 pounds, and is rooted in tons and tons of poured concrete. If one is nearby (and given the necessary density, one is always nearby), it generates a relentless low-frequency thrum-thrum-thrum that seems to emanate from the very walls of your home. The dark revolving shadows of its blades are cast for miles, and cause a rhythmic light-and-shade pulsing inside and outside your house. Living in an area with all that going, many people have developed headaches, nausea, depression and hypertension.

The effect on property values is devastating. The owner of a lovely restored 19th century farmhouse asks — who will buy it now? People don't come to the Catskills to undergo nonstop mental torture. Nor do other living things like wind turbines. Their blades, revolving at 150 miles an hour, slice birds into pieces and create low-pressure areas that cause the lungs of bats to explode.

For the loss of its peace of mind, a community's cut of the profits may be enough to pay for a pickup truck. Tax revenue drops because many of those (who can afford to) flee. Turbines sometimes topple over or catch fire (all firemen can do is stand and watch). And of course the local taxing agencies have been required to take advantage of sweetheart state and federal tax cuts, promoted by the industry's lobbyists.

"Windfall" left me disheartened. I thought wind energy was something I could believe in. This film suggests it's just another corporate flim-flam game. Of course, the documentary could be mistaken, and there are no doubt platoons of lawyers, lobbyists and publicists to say so. How many of them live on wind farms?

Roger Ebert

Roger Ebert was the film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, he won the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism.

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Netflix’s Windfall Review: An Eat The Rich Thriller With Surprising Bite

It’s a stylish, well-crafted hitchcockian thriller, a smart modern commentary, and a great actor showcase..

Jason Segel, Lily Collins, and Jesse Plemons in Windfall

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to impact our society and culture, locked door thrillers and dramas have proven to be an interesting outlet for filmmakers. It’s logical, both psychologically and practically. While following social distancing protocols and being health conscious, people around the world have experienced movie-worthy drama in their own lives while in lockdown, and as a result, the ability for any of us to relate to characters’ circumstances increases. It’s also just a hell of a lot easier to make a film in general when you are only using one location and a limited number of principal characters.

When film critics and historians eventually create an entire field of study around the mid-pandemic era of moviemaking, I can imagine Charlie McDowell’s Windfall being held up as a perfect model case – not only because of the limitations that inspired its creation and execution, but also because of its poignant and sharp examination of the wealth gap in our society (an issue which has only been magnified since the global spread of COVID-19 began).

Windfall was initially conceptualized by Charlie McDowell, Jason Segel , Justin Lader and Andrew Kevin Walker out of the desire to remain creative during the pandemic, and with the filmmakers knowing that they could have access to shoot at a specific house on an orange grove in Ojai, California. What they hatched was the idea for a peaceful home invasion that quickly spirals into a tense hostage situation, with four unnamed, complex characters providing absorbing perspectives as they all try and work toward a peaceful conclusion to the drama.

As we first enter the aforementioned Ojai property, its lavish amenities are being enjoyed by Nobody (Jason Segel). He sits in the sun drinking a glass of orange juice, eats fruit right off the branch in the orchard, and while rifling through drawers finds a fair amount of cash to fill his pockets. Of course, it’s quite apparent that he is not supposed to be there – and panic sets in when the actual owners, CEO ( Jesse Plemons ) and Wife ( Lily Collins ), arrive for a spur-of-the-moment getaway weekend.

Nobody at first tries to slink out the door without being noticed, but everything goes sideways when Wife spots him. At first, the home invader’s plan is to keep CEO and Wife confined in an on-property steam room and escape with a head start – confident that he has left no trace of himself at the house and that they won’t be able to remember him – but that idea goes out the window when he discovers that there is a security camera right above where he parked his car.

Pivoting, Nobody understands that he can’t destroy the security footage, and decides that his only out is to take enough money from CEO that he can disappear and live his life on the run. Of course, that quantity of cash can’t be summoned instantly, and they learn that the money won’t be delivered until the following night. With Nobody keeping hold of a gun that he finds in a drawer, the trio spends a tense 36 hours together, with patience wearing thin and tensions slowly rising.

Windfall's compelling characters keep you hooked as the clock ticks down.

A reflection of the characters’ namelessness, few details are provided about Nobody, Wife, and CEO as people beyond their present circumstance, with Windfall keeping a tight lid on exposition. They don’t present as bland abstracts, however, as the movie has a way of providing just enough information about them so that you can see the situation through their specific points of view.

Nobody is obviously a criminal, but he also has a compelling eat-the-rich hunger with which it’s exceptionally easy to empathize. CEO is a victim of a theft, but he is also an egotistical, classist jerk with no recognition of his privilege and advantages. Between these respective id and superego-driven personalities is Wife, who didn’t grow up with money, but knew the life-changing choice she was making when she agreed to marry the one of the wealthiest men in the world.

Their individual perceptions of the world instantly drive divisions between them, and sly deceptions stirred into the mix see loyalties shift and become questionable. It’s a slow burn with an explosive finish.

There's a slowdown in the middle of Windfall, but it finds a (no pun intended) second wind.

Pulling off a slow burn with a story as intimate and confined as Windfall ’s is tricky business, but the film is mostly successful. There is a drag in the second act when the characters are ironically killing time until the money arrives, but the movie is reenergized with the introduction of the fourth character in this tale: a talented and enterprising Gardner (Omar Leyva) who tries to grasp at opportunity when he finds himself in the position of having face time with CEO. This new player winds up having a fascinating impact on the socio/economic themes of the plot – though I unfortunately can’t dig too far into details without brushing against key spoilers.

This also happens to be one of those magical thrillers packing an ending that makes one reconsider everything that precedes it, and instantly inspires rewatch curiosity.

Jesse Plemons, Jason Segel, and Lily Collins all deliver terrific, dynamic performances.

Like any talk-heavy, theatre-like drama, performances are vital, and all three stars here are doing tremendous work. Jesse Plemons, who just keeps proving himself one of the most impressive talents of his generation, is the standout, putting on a slick and sinister turn that is comical while never making CEO likable (a thin line to walk). Jason Segel, meanwhile, succeeds in the sinister, using his natural charisma to counterbalance his skuzzy appearance and behavior. Between the two men, Lily Collins’ work is more subtle, but also surgical and intriguing.

While film as a medium allows creatives to change the rules of time and reality, I will forever be fascinated by a movie that can retain my attention for 90 minutes with a handful of characters and one enclosed space – and Windfall gives my constant itch a through scratching. It’s a stylish, well-crafted Hitchcockian thriller, a smart modern commentary, and a great actor showcase.

Eric Eisenberg is the Assistant Managing Editor at CinemaBlend. After graduating Boston University and earning a bachelor’s degree in journalism, he took a part-time job as a staff writer for CinemaBlend, and after six months was offered the opportunity to move to Los Angeles and take on a newly created West Coast Editor position. Over a decade later, he's continuing to advance his interests and expertise. In addition to conducting filmmaker interviews and contributing to the news and feature content of the site, Eric also oversees the Movie Reviews section, writes the the weekend box office report (published Sundays), and is the site's resident Stephen King expert. He has two King-related columns.

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'Windfall' review: A visual stunner that keeps you guessing until the very end

A man (Jason Segel as "Nobody"), a woman (Lily Collins as "Wife"), and another man (Jesse Plemons as "CEO") in a still shot of "Windfall."

Some films are so painfully predictable that you know exactly what will happen before you reach the second act. Windfall is not one of those films .

Netflix's new "Hitchcockian thriller," directed by Charlie McDowell, tells the story of a robbery gone wrong. Severely, and at times even laughably, wrong. Jason Segel plays an unnamed man (cited in credits as "Nobody") who breaks into a tech billionaire's vacation home, expecting to lounge in luxury for a while, steal a Rolex watch and some cash, then split before anyone even realizes he's there. That breezy plan is foiled when the wealthy homeowners, played by Jesse Plemons ("CEO") and Lily Collins ("Wife"), unexpectedly arrive for an impromptu getaway.

After a prolonged opening-credits shot of the stunning vacation home, the camera pans to views of the estate. We get a glimpse of the grounds, the pool, the orange grove, and the garden, all of which serve as backdrops for later scenes. The camera lands on Segel's character, who's serenely sipping orange juice and soaking in the view. He's imagining what it would be like to be these people; to have it all. He makes his way into the house, stops to tie his shoe, takes a piss in the shower, and rummages through drawers and closets until he finds money and a gun. He's about to head out when the couple corners him. He panics and makes the impetuous decision to take them hostage, beginning one hell of a ride.

A man (Jason Segel as "Nobody") hiding behind a wall from a woman (Lily Collins as "Wife") and another man (Jesse Plemons as "CEO") in a still shot of "Windfall."

The filthy rich tech CEO promises to give his captor $500,000, but the three are forced to kill time together until the money arrives. As pressure mounts, the characters reveal their true selves. And their clashing conduct fundamentally molds and elevates the ever-changing situation.

The trio delivers outstanding performances that are only enhanced by a nerve-racking score, created by Danny Bensi and Saunder Jurriaans, and Isiah Donté Lee's gorgeous cinematography (the @OnePerfectShot Twitter account would be overwhelmed with options). The contemporary noir is a simple, stripped-down thriller that presents seemingly straightforward solutions at the start. But Windfall grows increasingly complex, keeping viewers engaged and inquisitive from beginning to end.

Segel successfully portrays a generally nonconfrontational dude who's trying and failing to act tough. He ties the couple up with electronics cords but nearly has a breakdown trying to unclasp the wife's purse. It's obvious that he's woefully unqualified to run the show. His threats are gentle and visibly empty, and he wears desperation, regret, and the burning desire for a solution on his sleeve. Even in the process of committing several crimes, he feels worthy of our compassion, especially since you'll spend a decent chunk of the film wanting to punch Plemons' character in the face.

A man (Jason Segel as "Nobody"), a woman (Lily Collins as "Wife"), and another man (Jesse Plemons as "CEO") walking through an orange grove in "Windfall."

The Power of the Dog actor utterly infuriates as an entitled slimeball, who lacks the smallest bit of self-control. In the middle of this hostage situation, he takes time to remind his wife that he hates her tattoo. He taunts his captor every chance he gets. And he delivers several sickening monologues — one of which eerily echoes Kim Kardashian's recent insensitive work ethic comments . Plemons ably plays an arrogant asshole at one point exclaiming: "Try being a rich white guy these days! Everyone always thinks it must be real fuckin' nice."

Meanwhile, Collins brings incredible depth and range to her character. Windfall will remind everyone that the Emily In Paris star isn't all fun in France. Collins, who's married to McDowell, plays a quiet, discontent wife, who finds her voice throughout the film. Her character displays the ability to remain level-headed in times of turbulence. But Collins gives a stunning, multifaceted performance that shows her cycle through fear, disgust, empathy, introspection, anger, and just about everything in between.

McDowell wrote the story, along with Justin Lader, Andrew Kevin Walker, and Segel. And he's close friends with both Segel and Plemons, which likely played a role in their amazing onscreen chemistry.

Windfall 's casting is brilliant, and its unconventional camerawork crafts a picture-perfect presentation of three sorely imperfect lives. Masterful shots of everything from a sculpture in the living room and birds circling in the sky to eyes shifting, to a leg bouncing with anxiety and fingers tapping on the couch, help emphasize the agonizing passage of time.

Though the film is a thriller, it's undoubtedly one of the most chill high-stress situations of all time. It's dialogue-heavy. It's ripe with awkward, tense, and lengthy stretches of silence. And winks of levity are sprinkled throughout, including a scene where they watch the 1986 comedy, Three Amigos! .

Windfall's unhurried pacing and the couple's laidback lack of escape attempts might not keep everyone's attention. But if you manage to stick around as long as that burglar, you'll be rewarded with a satisfyingly surprising ending.

Windfall is now streaming on Netflix .

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Nicole is a Senior Editor at Mashable. She primarily covers entertainment and digital culture trends, and in her free time she can be found watching TV, sending voice notes, or going viral on Twitter for admiring knitwear. You can follow her on Twitter @nicolemichele5 .

Nicole Kidman and Zac Efron in "The Paperboy" and "A Family Affair."

‘Windfall’ Review: Jesse Plemons, Lily Collins, and Jason Segel Play Against Type in Basic but Enjoyable Thriller

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Windfall , the latest film from The One I Love and The Discovery director Charlie McDowell , starts like an Alfred Hitchcock film, complete with throwback opening credits, and a soft but haunting score, as we zoom in on a quiet California home. Windfall feels like a reminder of the past, a simple yet thrilling mystery that relies more on character than big plot or action developments. But with Windfall , instead of coming off like a classic Hollywood film, McDowell’s latest reminds more of the mumblecore films of the 2000s and 2010s, where a group of actors could get together and show their range through a low-budget film.

Whereas mumblecore films mostly starred lesser-known talents, Windfall , however, stars Jason Segel , Lily Collins , and Jesse Plemons , each taking on characters that feel completely different from the roles they’re used to playing. In the opening moments of Windfall , we see Segel exploring a massive estate, picking oranges right off the trees, sitting by the pool, and absorbing this gigantic home. As he’s getting ready to leave, the home’s real owners—played by Collins and Plemons—show up, leaving Segel’s character to take the married couple hostage.

Written by McDowell’s frequent collaborator Justin Lader and Se7en writer Andrew Kevin Walker , Windfall keeps this neo-noir story to the basics. Segel is known as Nobody, while Plemons is simply called CEO, and Collins is credited as Wife. Lader and Walker have made Nobody an inept home invader, who can’t tie up his hostages effectively, can’t keep the situation under control, and doesn’t even think that this wealthy couple would have security cameras until it’s too late. When Nobody tells CEO and Wife that to get rid of him, he’ll need $150,000 to start a new life somewhere, CEO and Wife have to tell him that won’t be enough, and have to help bring his ransom up to an acceptable number.

RELATED: From 'Forgetting Sarah Marshall' to 'The Muppets': 7 Essential Jason Segel Movies

But the real purpose of Windfall seems to be a way for Segel, Collins, and Plemons to try something new in their performances. While Segel is still comedic at times in his inept handling of this situation, it’s certainly a more threatening role than he’s used to. Plemons is by far the most fun here, as the scummy CEO who complains about freeloaders, and complains about how hard it is to be a rich white guy these days. It’s fun to see Plemons be this unpleasant in a role, but naturally, Plemons nails it. Meanwhile, Collins arguably has the most depth, as she tries to warm up to Nobody, and is also struggling with her undesirable marriage to CEO. While Segel and Plemons are playing to polar opposites of arguments for income equality, Collins is a blend of both opinions, a middle ground that is hard to nail down, leaving her to be the biggest wild card in this relatively simple story.

Yet Windfall might be too much of a slow burn. By the third act, the film introduces another character, but this addition only seems to exist to up the stakes, making him more a pawn than an actual character that can add to this dynamic. Windfall ’s basic approach to this type of thriller also can’t help but leave the viewer wanting just a little more. Beyond the basics we learn about these three characters early on, the film doesn’t have much in the way of character development, as this trio mostly sits and waits for Nobody’s money to arrive. Segel, Plemons, and Collins are solid enough to make this waiting around worthwhile, but just barely.

Like McDowell’s last film, The Discovery , Windfall is an intriguing concept that doesn’t dig too far beyond the original concept. As with The Discovery , what’s there is solid, but still feels like the beginnings of an idea that just hasn’t been fully fleshed out enough. Plemons, Collins, and Segel elevate this basic story beyond more than just a generic noir homage, but it’ll likely leave the audience like Nobody: willing to accept less when they should be asking for more.

Windfall is streaming now on Netflix

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‘Windfall’ Movie Review: Jesse Plemons and Lily Collins Marital Drama-Turned Home Invasion

Windfall is a dark comedic thriller that blends a marital drama with a robbery that goes horribly wrong. The One I Love director Charlie McDowell directs a screenplay written by Justin Lader and Andrew Kevin Walker. It’s a film that introduces elements of both cinema and stage play. Windfall is a tad muted, but it still delivers as an entertaining neo-noir .

‘Windfall’ showcases a robbery gone wrong

'Windfall' Jason Segel as Nobody, Lily Colins as Wife, and Jesse Plemons as CEO standing in the doorway looking worried

A man credited as Nobody ( Jason Segel ) breaks into a tech billionaire CEO’s (Jesse Plemons) empty vacation home. The robber decides to take his sweet time exploring the home and tasting the sweet life. However, he’s taken off-guard when the CEO arrives with his wife (Lily Collins) for a last-minute holiday.

Windfall continues to spiral out of control as the trio tries to come to a solution. However, Nobody is in over his head, as he attempts to get the most money possible while getting out clean. The CEO and his wife simply want to get the intruder out of their home, so that they can enjoy what’s left of their holiday weekend.

Director Charlie McDowell creates a classist home invasion

Lader and Walker’s screenplay keeps all of its characters names hidden, simply crediting them as Nobody, CEO, and his wife. Windfall opens up with Nobody living the good life in a house that isn’t his. However, it quickly becomes clear that he isn’t a professional robber. He makes significant mistakes and never seems to know what he’s doing and the CEO and his wife recognize that. As a result, they appear oddly calm.

Classism is a major theme in Windfall , as the characters have entirely different views on what constitutes a good quality of life. The CEO and his wife repeatedly offer more money than Nobody is asking for, laughing at the low amount of money he’s requesting in his demands.

The CEO is an extraordinarily self-centered and egotistical man. He created an algorithm intended to “enrich” the lives of companies to exist with fewer employees. The CEO’s lack of respect for those he deems as less deserving extends to his own assistant, consistently demeaning her.

Windfall tucks a marital drama into its home invasion chaos. The cracks in the CEO and his wife’s marriage begin to spiderweb, as he has no issue putting her in danger to save his own skin. Lader and Walker’s screenplay explores some more personal dynamics between the couple, while Nobody remains a complete mystery.

‘Windfall’ showcases a phenomenal performance from Jesse Plemons

'Windfall' Jason Segel as Nobody, Lily Colins as Wife, and Jesse Plemons as CEO among fruit trees looking stressed

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Perhaps one of the most intriguing tricks of Windfall is its ability to switch focus between its characters. The film often plays with perspective on robbery and the social and economic climates. It consistently begs the question – who is the main character? McDowell shifts the storytelling to keep the audience guessing regarding whose story this actually is.

The Power of the Dog actor Plemons turns in a delectable performance that is unlike anything he’s done before. He’s relentless as the self-absorbed CEO in a way that consistently steals the scene every time he’s on the screen. Segel also turns in a solid performance, bringing a mix of dramatic and comedy chops. Finally, Collins provides a sense of sympathy and sincerity throughout the runtime.

McDowell’s film is a marital drama packaged inside of a home invasion thriller about classism and destiny. Windfall is a compelling neo-noir with a particularly outstanding performance from Plemons. The film is a bit restrained in both its home invasion and marital drama, but it’s plenty entertaining.

Windfall is now available to stream exclusively on Netflix.

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When A 'Windfall' Isn't Quite What It Seems

Mark Jenkins

Quixotic Enterprise? Laura Israel's documentary, Windfall, tracks the impact of a wind farm development on an increasingly reluctant citizenry in rural New York. First Run Features hide caption

Director: Laura Israel
Genre: Documentary
Running Time: 83 minutes

Not rated; no violence or sexual content

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Credit: First Run Features

'The Money'

'Let It Burn'

'Traveling Salesmen'

Not even the most ecologically minded are always keen on the prospect of giant wind turbines near their homes. But Meredith, N.Y., welcomed "Big Wind" when it first came whistling through town. That's what makes Windfall so interesting: The documentary is the story of an education.

In some ways, Meredith seems a natural place for a wind farm. Situated in one of New York's poorest counties, it's in an agricultural area whose principal enterprise, dairy farming, has dramatically declined. But the area is mostly home to small landowners, with few large tracts that could be developed without affecting nearby neighbors. And some of those neighbors are refugees from New York City, where they learned to be skeptical and outspoken.

Director Laura Israel is among the Meredith residents who split their time between the town and the big city 160 miles to the southeast, which explains why she was able to follow the controversy over a year or more, as pro-windmill sentiments gradually shifted to anti-.

This is no first-person piece, though; Israel stays off camera, allowing her neighbors to speak. She doesn't present the views of the wind-power developer, Airtricity (originally Eiretricity, before the Irish firm was sold to Scottish and German interests), but that may be because the company is a low-profile one that didn't address the community collectively, and insisted on confidentiality agreements before it would even enter into negotiations with property owners.

As is often the case, the outside developer's biggest asset was the local elite, which was certain it knew best. Farmer and town council leader Frank Bachler joined the town's attorney in overruling a skeptical planning commission report about the effects of erecting the turbines.

Bachler and other supporters labeled the anti-windmill forces "a vocal minority." But with an election looming, the pro-wind forces had to double-check their math. Even Bachler, one of the principal on-screen proponents of the turbines, would give the whole idea a second thought.

In Meredith, the case against wind turbines turned on their size — about 400 feet high and 600,000 pounds each — not to mention their grinding noise, their bone-shaking vibrations and the flickering shadows they cast, which disrupt light and sleep (and video games). One of the opponents, Ken Jaffe, is a retired doctor who looked into the high-tech windmills' medical side effects.

Also, the turbines sometimes fall over, catch on fire or hurl dangerous ice projectiles. They kill birds and bats in large numbers. And there's more.

To optimize the investment, wind-power developers tend to build a lot more turbines than they initially propose. In Tug Hill, farther north in upstate New York, a proposed 50 high-tech windmills became 195. As skeptics began to investigate, they learned that wind power is too unreliable to replace dirtier forms of generation, and that the wind business is based less on electricity than on tax credits: Big investment companies keep flipping the companies so as to restart the depreciation process.

A veteran film editor making her first feature, Israel emphasizes the area's low-key beauty. She conducted most of the interviews outside to show the landscapes. When the movie finally gets to Tug Hill, the contrast is all the more striking. Meredith, N.Y., may not be paradise, but it's clear why residents didn't want to sacrifice its rustic appeal to the steady whomp of industrial windmills.

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Jason Segel as Nobody; Jesse Plemons as CEO; Lily Collins as Wife; Omar Leyva as Gardener

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Movie review.

As he stood there in the entryway with his hand on the woman’s windpipe, all he could think of was that it wasn’t supposed to happen this way.

In fact, breaking into the house—drinking juice on the isolated estate’s sprawling and expertly manicured back porch and then strolling through the connected orange grove—was nothing more than a whim on his part. He wanted to see how the other half lived (when the other half was nowhere to be seen). And he had almost made it in and out without being noticed.

But then, just as he was walking back toward his car parked out on the street … his greed kicked in. He went back to the house, stole a Rolex and grabbed what cash he could find. And as he turned to leave, in strolled the CEO and his wife: the owners who weren’t supposed to be there.

He didn’t want this. Truthfully. I mean, it was their fault , really, for showing up out of the blue to one of the wealthy CEO’s random California homes. What were they thinking?!

So, Mr. Nobody grabbed Wife and snarlingly threatened CEO that he’d better listen or someone will get hurt. But now what? He can smash their cellphones and, maybe, tie them up? Lock them in a room? But they’ve seen his face.

What can he do? What should he do? He’s not a stupid man, but this whole thing is stupid. As his grip tightens a bit, he feels Wife’s pulse pounding as quickly as his own. Beat, beat, beat, beat.

It all just got complicated.

Positive Elements

When CEO openly gripes about people in the world believing that they’re “owed” something just for living, his wife—who’s involved in charity work—reminds him, “Not everybody who needs help is a freeloader.”

Later, when the couple’s gardener shows up to work on the property, the man stops at the front door to thank them for his employment. He shows pride in his work, and even makes earnest suggestions of how he could improve CEO’s property.

Spiritual Elements

CEO, Wife and Nobody walk through a large Zen garden CEO had built on the property.

Sexual Content

When CEO and Wife first walk into the house, he moves to have sex with her—in the hope of having a child together—but she pushes him off and suggests they unpack first. It’s implied that CEO has had a number of affairs with various “Debbies” that he later paid off.

Later in the film when it’s revealed that Nobody will have to stick around, waiting for more money to be delivered, CEO secretly whispers that Wife should “get close” to Nobody, “no matter what it takes.” (Wife tries to talk, but she and Nobody never get physical.)

Violent Content

Nobody threatens CEO and Wife with a gun. Wife has bloody lacerations on her ankles after being tied up with wire.

In a panic, someone smashes into a glass door and falls on broken glass, slashing the character’s throat. Someone is shot three times at point-blank range. And someone gets battered to death with a heavy piece of artwork. (We see blood and gore on the artwork and a rapidly bleeding slashed throat.)

Someone warns a person not to cross the deadly line of murder but then actually ends up killing two people.

Crude or Profane Language

More than 60 f-words and eight s-words are joined by single uses each of “h—” and “b–ch.” God’s name is misused four times, twice in combination with “d–n.”

Drug and Alcohol Content

Nobody reveals that Wife has birth control pills in her purse. Nobody drinks a glass of booze.

Other Negative Elements

CEO urinates outdoors on a bush, and Nobody urinates in CEO’s shower. Lies are exposed. CEO complains about being a victim, just because he’s white and wealthy.

Some moviemakers use their camera lens as a way to examine or comment on our society at large. And Windfall certainly feels like that kind of cinematic scrutiny. It follows the tense, cramped-set interplay between a pair of haves and one have-not.

The world in Windfall ’s viewfinder, however, is a place filled with generally miserable people who are equally repugnant in their own ways. In fact, this movie’s one ray of human goodness is quickly extinguished in brutal fashion.

If you squint your eyes just the right way, you might see these characters and their story as an example of a damaged and fallen mankind. But it’s a scenario with no redemption in sight. And the fact that this pic is slow, play-like, generally uninteresting and extremely foul makes getting to the credits a difficult slog.

After spending more than two decades touring, directing, writing and producing for Christian theater and radio (most recently for Adventures in Odyssey, which he still contributes to), Bob joined the Plugged In staff to help us focus more heavily on video games. He is also one of our primary movie reviewers.

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Windfall (2022) Netflix Movie Review – Stylish, clever, but ultimately inconsistent

Stylish, clever, but ultimately inconsistent

We open on an orange grove where a lone figure reclines languidly in a deck chair, surveying the picturesque scenery of Ojai, California. The man closes eyes and sighs contentedly before finishing his glass of orange juice and casually making his way to the grounds’ luxurious homestead. But he is not the owner. He is a burglar, whose latest job becomes unexpectedly complicated by the sudden arrival of the real occupants- an egocentric tech billionaire and his wife.

This is the setup for the offbeat Netflix thriller Windfall- a well-cast, beautifully shot, and reasonably entertaining film that’s unfortunately let down by patchy character development. It’s a noticeable flaw given audiences spent most of Windfall’s ninety-minute run time with just three of them, all of whom are unnamed and referred to in the script as “Nobody (Jason Segel),” “CEO (Jesse Plemons),” and “Wife” (director Charlie McDowell’s actual wife, Lily Collins).

The unlikely trio are thrust into a hostage situation when CEO and Wife make a spontaneous trip to their secluded vacation home with the worst possible timing and interrupt a crime. Reluctant to use violence, Nobody initially barricades the pair in their sauna to give himself a head start before they can raise the alarm. But the stakes become significantly higher after the thief spots a security camera that has recorded his every move.

He demands five-hundred-thousand dollars cash- enough to go on the run and start a new life- to which CEO agrees. The only problem? It’ll be twenty-four hours before his assistant drops off the loot. That’s enough time for resentments to fester, alliances strain, and blood spill. And they call vacations relaxing?

McDowell is a filmmaker unafraid to break narrative convention. Blending elements of sci-fi, surrealism, romantic drama, and dark comedy, the young director has been compared to everyone from Hitchcock and David Lynch. Windfall is no exception, and though not as mind-bending as previous features The One I Love or The Discovery (also starring Segel) it is equally as hard to define.

Far from a straightforward heist flick, Windfall is part relationship drama, part noir throwback thriller, and part “eat the rich” social commentary. Some of these elements work better than others, however.

The film is probably most effective as an old-fashioned thriller. Leaning in to his classic noir influences, McDowell’s command of visual texture and perspective create an impressively cinematic style not just for a Netflix feature, but for the genre itself.

The single location and minimal cast also bring an air of claustrophobic dread, despite arising from practical necessity as opposed to artistic choice.

“The whole idea of how to make this film and just what we wanted to explore in the film came out of the restrictions of shooting at this time,” McDowell told Hollywood Reporter .

“And it was kind of two months into the pandemic when me, Jason Segel, Justin Lader… and Andrew Kevin Walker, the four of us got on a Zoom. Jason pitched a kind of one-line idea of something that we could write and shoot in one location and keep the crew really small and the cast really small.”

Regardless, it works. Not only does this bare-basics storytelling intensify the suspense of the situation, it reinforces some of Windfall’s key themes as the trappings of extreme wealth- privacy, seclusion, and celebrity status- are potentially fatal vulnerabilities and luxury lodgings become a prison. Apparently, being a billionaire isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.

The film does lose narrative focus at a few points, with the middle third in particular feeling unnecessarily slow (night one of the stand-off drags to the point we could be living the characters’ boredom in real-time). But just as the film seems to have lost all momentum, it ramps back up again for an explosive twist ending some viewers will love, others hate, and none will expect.

Without giving too much away, Windfall’s finale simultaneously exhibits its best and worst elements. On the one hand, it delivers a suitably unpredictable end for a film that keeps audiences on their toes throughout. This is largely thanks to Jason Segel- veteran Best Supporting Stoner of Knocked Up, This Is The End, and Forgetting Sarah Marshall fame- ingeniously miscast as would-be burglar Nobody.

Segel’s portrayal of Nobody as a fumbling, decidedly un-hardened criminal introduces a whole other layer of uncertainty and intrigue to the psychological standoff with viewers never quite sure of the threat being posed. Is it all just a bluff? Or could Nobody’s obvious inexperience and unrehearsed gamer plan make him all the more dangerous?

It also provides much of Windfall’s intermittent humour. A ransom negotiation between Nobody and CEO is, for example, mined for absurdity as Nobody’s arbitrary and increasingly frustrated demands are slyly ridiculed by the billionaire (“One hundred and fifty thousand?” CEO condescends. “You’re going to blow through it like that.”).

In fact, every character in Windfall is dryly funny in their own way. Plemons’ CEO is an insufferably smug yet delightfully quippy smartass, while Lily James is flawlessly deadpan as long-suffering Wife. Yet too often the comedy comes at the expense of any real depth or development. In its absence, even the most shocking plot turns fail to achieve emotional payoff and attempted social commentary is superficial at best.

CEO, Wife and Nobody all have potential, but unfortunately become less interesting the more we see of them. Hard-won details of the characters’ lives and personalities, far from adding depth, conform to broadly drawn stereotypes. (A billionaire CEO is revealed to be arrogant and entitled? What a shocker!)

Windfall’s thematic depth suffers from a similar flaw. Any moral ambiguity (is it ever ok to harm others, even those least deserving of their good fortune? Is financial security worth sacrificing independence?) is steamrolled over with cliches. There’s not much room for ambiguity at all when characters are unequivocally awful (CEO), anachronistic Stepford Wives (Wife), or mouthpieces for the film’s vague, working-class politics (the self-righteous Nobody).

Though Windfall falls short of its potential, there’s still a lot to like about this off-centre, tightly wound ride. Steadily enjoyable (if not entirely memorable) and far more sophisticated than the average Netflix original, Windfall is best enjoyed when not taken too seriously. But like the lifestyle of a billionaire, below the surface is an unfortunate case of style over substance.

Feel free to check out more of our movie reviews here!

Verdict - 7/10 7/10

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Netflix goes Hitchcockian in this collision of the classes.

Without any awareness of the Hitchcockian tag—impossible, what with it being The Point in the marketing, but let’s try— Windfall is the best advert yet for Ojai, California. Right from the get-go, director and co-writer Charlie McDowell serenely guides viewers around a gorgeous hacienda with an Eden of Pixie tangerines and the Topatopa within eyeshot. In short, this is a fetching property, easily bearing a price tag in the millions. It’s an item someone in the style of our unofficial tour guide ( Jason Segel ), a daring blend of off-duty Sheriff Hopper and the designer-disheveled-ism of modern tech bros, would possess. Or maybe host the Roys if they are to reattempt family therapy.

The latter might be out of the question, however, due to a very simple fact: He doesn’t own the place. All that walking and furniture-interfacing are burglar-minded. Those jolting discords in Danny Bensi and Saunder Jurrians’ otherwise somber overture make sense now. Together with the rolling drums, Gina Luciani ’s nibbling flutes, and Virginia Figueiredo ’s slithering clarinets, the score is the best primer for the story’s impending shades of moral gray—or even primal dark. In fact, “impending” is only mere minutes after the tour as approaching the front door are the actual key holder, a tech CEO ( Jesse Plemons ), and his plus one, a most-attentive philanthropist ( Lily Collins ).

Although Windfall seems to acknowledge the Master of Suspense as a whole, its narrative pieces from Justin Lader and Andrew Kevin Walker (from a story also by them, plus McDowell and Segel), also reach out to Michael Haneke, in particular his Funny Games . That said, McDowell’s film comments not on violence as catharsis but instead society’s lopsided design, despite the same “vacation turns awry” framework.

Not the most visual-driven of sociological angle, but flourishes like the Art Deco type in the credits or compositions that play with depth from Isaiah Donté Lee can still catch the eye, even if they risk receiving the “cute” remark from viewers who idolize Hitchcock or Classic Hollywood cinema. As profiles and worldviews that rarely shake hands are doing just that, there are raised voices and injuries. But they are not the main attraction. The script is the main beneficiary, and McDowell understands that. His visualist side empathizes.

The central players chosen for Windfall represent that understanding. As you might have noticed, Segel, Collins and Plemons don’t have names, nor will they reveal them to one another. Designation, then, is based on the script’s expressions that they are concepts best described as “too rich,” “just rich” and “not rich,” generally upfront enough to depress the human element. Our principal trio, then, has to be strong enough to keep it afloat.

And our alums of Forgetting Sarah Marshall , Okja, and Game Night are exactly that. Segel makes it possible to sympathize with his “nobody,” to see his decisions as the result of having no choices. Plemons’ CEO is loud when reciting the talking point of willing benchwarmers and handout seekers, and he’s even louder being someone whose spirit is tickled-pink when interacting with lowlifes. Collins effortlessly tells the story of a woman with skills beyond a marionette to the husband and a therapist to the captor, lending every slip of the truth about her gilded life the desired shock.

Still, the more into which there is to read about the performances, the brighter the sign that says Windfall is a writer’s film. For some, this can be a “one-and-done” affair, rather ironic when one sees pennies from heaven. But there’s no stopping the feeling that it’s all by design, or at the least it’s OK with drawing the line. As long as the world continues to correspond to how the Nobody, the CEO, or the Wife sees it, McDowell’s film stays evergreen. It would share the same trait of the sight of the dollar, the might of it, the sting of it, and, in simpler terms, the influences of Hitchcock.

Windfall is currently streaming on Netflix.

Windfall Trailer:

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Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Windfall’ on Netflix, a Spiky Home-Invasion Comedy Thriller Pitting the Haves vs. the Have-nots

Where to stream:.

Windfall (2022)

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Just an off-the-cuff observation here, but it seems like the pandemic has, maybe by necessity, inspired a bevy of small-cast/single-location films like Netflix’s Windfall . Less people and less locations? Makes sense. The feeling of being stuck in one place? Also makes sense. And in this case, stuck in one place against your will, as Jason Segel – who gets story credit – plays an intruder who kind of inadvertently ends up kidnapping a megarich couple played by Jesse Plemons and Lily Collins. It’s a whoops-now-what situation; let’s see how it plays out.

WINDFALL : STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

The Gist: The opening shot will make you think of Hitchcock if it’s the last f—ing thing you do: Static shot, fluttering woodwinds and plucked strings and rumbling tympani, no human beings to be seen – consider the ominous tone established. You’re forced to study this perfectly weathered stone patio, its furniture, the house with its many floor-to-ceiling windows, the door left open for a curtain to flap lazily in the breeze. It spins 180 degrees and out over the stone-lined pool is a luscious desert mountain view.

You won’t be surprised to learn that rich people live here. Sort of. Sometimes. Seems too fancy and isolated for commoners – a commoner like a character the credits refer to simply as “Nobody” (Segel), who we find at a table outside, drinking orange juice. He wanders into the orange grove on the property, plucks a plump one, rips it open, juice squirting from its abundant flesh, and takes a big bite. He wanders back, tosses his OJ glass on the rocks and listens to it smash, goes inside to take a pee. He rummages through drawers, grabs jewelry, a Rolex, a wad of $100 bills. There’s a gun in a box. What does he do with it? Not sure. That’s the movie f—ing with us. He uses a towel to wipe door handles and other surfaces. Why didn’t he wear gloves? He doesn’t seem very good at this.

And hey, guess what – he’s not very good at this. Not at all. Because once characters known only as CEO (Plemons) and Wife (Collins) arrive unexpectedly, Nobody (please note capitalization) doesn’t know what to do. Amateur hour. Our rich couple discusses how they never get out here anymore, this gorgeous place that you or I would love to spend a weekend at, just one weekend to luxuriate in the pool or sauna or orange grove or zen garden, (and maybe not spend $4,000 doing it? Just a thought). Our intruder guy listens to them gripe about how an assistant blew it and didn’t put any food in the fridge or arrange a crapload of flowers all over the place like they asked. He tries to sneak out, but Wife spots him. Like I said: Whoops. Now what?

What Movies Will It Remind You Of?: Maybe Hitchcock’s Rope or Lifeboat crossed with a home-invasion thriller a la Funny Games or Wait Until Dark crossed with a stagey dialogue comedy like Carnage , with some Persona -inspired scenery and a few Coen Bros.-isms a la Fargo .

Performance Worth Watching: Collins’ character is stuck between Plemons and Segal’s rich guy/poor guy paradigm, and gives the most nuanced performance as a result.

Memorable Dialogue: Plemons’ character gets a couple of doozies:

“How can people be so mad at me? It’s like being mad at a clock.”

“Try being a rich white guy these days. It sucks!”

Sex and Skin: None.

Our Take: Windfall functions as a microcosmic allegory of sorts, slowly revealing that CEO, a billionaire, got rich writing an algorithm and, instead of retiring young like a sane person might do, now finds himself in the business of corporate consolidation, spending a lot of time justifying his callous decisions to the many people who hate him. The movie does not slowly reveal that he’s an arrogant shitheel – that’s prevalent right off the bat. Meanwhile, Nobody, a disgruntled former employee of CEO, was simply going to commit burglary and maybe leave an upper-decker in the master bath, and now he finds himself demanding a ransom. He asks for $150k, but CEO and Wife talk him up to half a mil, perhaps because they don’t know how crazy and desperate he is and are trying to appease him, or perhaps because for them, losing half a mil is like you or me losing a quarter down the sewer grate.

This on-the-nose socio-economic dichotomy is a key suspenseful element in the movie, which teases out the true nature of the interpersonal dynamic at play. Maybe Nobody is a loose nut who could crack, maybe he’s a nice guy who lost himself in his rage and despair. Maybe CEO is a cretin, maybe he’s – no, he’s pretty much just a cretin. But maybe CEO and Wife’s marriage isn’t particularly strong, as one would suspect, considering one of them is a cretin. The situation plays out with some strong, subtle dark comedy: They’re forced to eat some miserable dry cereal flakes as they wait more than a day for the ransom cash to be delivered; they go for a leisurely stroll to the zen garden, as if they’re giving Nobody a tour of the estate, and when he asks, “You got anything else you never use?” they end up firing up the outdoor projector for a screening of Three Amigos .

Windfall walks the line between being populated wholly with unlikeable characters, and being populated with characters who are deeply flawed and eventually sympathetic. Without the comedic touches, this would be a miserable 90 minutes, but as it stands, it’s a reasonably entertaining, well-acted almost-noir that ends up setting its somewhat provocative, but also somewhat simplistic themes atop a pile of TNT and hitting the plunger. There are many ways a movie like this could end. One is thoughtfully, which some might find dissatisfying. Another is to make such an abrupt left turn, you end up flipping the car. I won’t say how it ends, of course, but I will say it kinda mostly stinks.

Our Call: Does the ending wholesale ruin Windfall ? Almost. So STREAM IT, because its modest successes outweigh its failures.

Will you stream or skip the home-invasion comedy thriller #Windfall on @netflix ? #SIOSI — Decider (@decider) March 20, 2022

John Serba is a freelance writer and film critic based in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Read more of his work at johnserbaatlarge.com .

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"PC Satire Misses the Mark"

	None	Light	Moderate	Heavy
Language
Violence
Sex
Nudity

What You Need To Know:

Miscellaneous Immorality: The intruder and his captives have moral pitfalls but are shallow characters, and the only innocent character dies due to their actions.

More Detail:

WINDFALL is a unique crime, drama streaming on Netflix about a man who breaks into the house of a tech billionaire, but whose plans go awry when the billionaire and his wife make a surprise visit to their vacation home.

The movie opens as a man wonders about the property of a luxurious vacation home. The man is relaxed and seems to belong until a man and his wife arrive to the home and announce that they plan to stay the weekend.

The intruder, unsure of what to do, starts by hiding from the couple. However, the man and his wife soon discover that some of their things have been misplaced, and the intruder must spring into action.

Both the parties involved don’t want any trouble, and they make a deal that would allow the intruder to leave without harming the billionaire and his wife, with some cash. The intruder locks the couple in their own sauna and makes a run to his car, parked just beyond the property’s fence line. However, just as he’s ready to drive away, he notices a camera that could easily be used to identify him as the culprit.

In desperation, he runs back to the property only to find that the couple have escaped the sauna. He tracks them down in the orange orchard on their property and kidnaps them in their own house. While the intruder is slightly more aggressive, the billionaire and his wife offer to pay him more money to leave them alone. The intruder agrees, but it will take a full day before the money can be delivered to the house. For the time being, the three people are stuck with one another in the high-stress situation.

As uncertainty builds for both the intruder and the captives, tensions rise. The billionaire wonders why the intruder chose him and his house, but the intruder keeps his motive a secret. As tension builds between the intruder and his captives, it also boils over for the husband and wife.

When the money doesn’t arrive when expected, the three parties involved reach their respective breaking points. However, it’s unclear as to whose motives are moral, and who is in the wrong.

WINDFALL acts as a satire about wealth inequality and relies on a restricted setting and minimal characters to build suspense. The dialogue between the three leads and the cinematography mix together to create a few clever moments. However, the movie suffers from a weak moral backbone and feels like it tries to run before it can walk, with a predictable ending to an otherwise original idea. WINDFALL has some genuinely funny moments and good chemistry between the actors, but it’s marred by a strong humanist worldview, political correctness, and excessive foul language and violence.

‘Kalki 2898 AD’ Review: Lavish Tollywood Sci-Fi Epic Is an Unabashedly Derivative Spectacle

Telugu cinema superstar Prabhas swashbuckles as a Han Solo clone.

By Joe Leydon

Film Critic

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With “ Kalki 2898 AD ,” Telugu cinema filmmaker Nag Ashwin rifles through a century of sci-fi and fantasy extravaganzas to create a wildly uneven mashup of everything from Fritz Lang’s “Metropolis” to Marvel Comics movies, underpinned by elements from the Hindu epic poem “Mahabharata.” It’s billed, perhaps optimistically, as the first chapter of the Kalki Cinematic Universe franchise — which makes it part of a larger trend, since it launches the same weekend that Kevin Costner’s multi-film “Horizon” saga does in the U.S.

Reviewed at AMC Fountains 18, Houston, June 26, 2024. Running time: 181 MIN.

Production: An AA Films release of a Vyjayanthi Movies production. Producer: C. Aswini Dutt.
Crew: Director, writer: Nag Ashwin. Dialogue: Sai Madhav Burra. Camera: Djordje Stojiljkovic. Editor: Kotagiri Venkateswara Rao. Music: Santhosh Narayanan.
With: Prabhas, Amitabh Bachchan, Deepika Padukone, Kamal Haasan, Disha Patani. (Telugu, English dialogue)

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Review: In the underpowered ‘Daddio,’ the proverbial cab ride from hell could use more hell

A woman and a cabbie have a conversation.

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The art of conversation has been a casualty in these deeply divided days of ours, and the poor state of talk in the movies — so often expositional, glib or posturing — is an unfortunate reflection of that. The new film “Daddio” is an attempt to put verbal discourse front and center, confining to a yellow taxi a pair with different life paths, as you would expect when your leads are Sean Penn and Dakota Johnson. (Guess which one is the cabbie.)

Johnson’s coolly elegant, nameless traveler, a computer programmer returning to New York’s JFK airport from a trip visiting a big sister in Oklahoma, may be getting a flat rate for her journey, but the meter’s always running on the mouth of Penn’s gleefully crusty and opinionated driver, Clark. He’s a twice-married man prone to streetwise philosophizing about the state of the world and, over the course of the ride, the unsettled romances of his attractive fare. And as she drops clues about her life — sometimes unwittingly, then a little more freely — she gives back with some probing responses of her own, trying to pry him open.

Review: ‘Madame Web’ weaves its way into primo ridiculousness, but Dakota Johnson fans should see it

By most metrics, the convoluted comic-book movie is dead on arrival, but those with a love of camp may enjoy it, especially since its star seems in on the joke.

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Writer-director Christy Hall, who originally conceived the scenario as a stage play, lets the chatter roll — there’s a significant stretch in which the cab isn’t even moving. And when silence sets in, there’s still an exchange to tend to, as Johnson occasionally, with apprehension, responds to a lover’s insistent sexting. This third figure (unseen, save one predictable picture sent to her phone) becomes another source of conjectural bravado for Clark, a self-proclaimed expert in male-female relations, who makes eye contact through the rearview mirror.

Watching the unremarkable “Daddio,” you’ll never worry that anything untoward or combustible will happen between the chauvinist driver with a heart of gold and the smart if vulnerable young female passenger who “can handle herself,” as Clark frequently observes. That lack of tension is the problem. The movie is less about a nuanced conversation between strangers than a writer’s careful construction, designed to bridge a cultural impasse between the sexes. Hall is so eager to stage a big moment that upends expectations and triggers wet-eyed epiphanies — He’s a compassionate blowhard! She can laugh at his crassness! — that we’re never allowed to feel the molecules shift from moment to moment in a way that isn’t unforced. Life may be the subject, but life is what’s missing.

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It doesn’t help that in directing her first feature, Hall has given herself one of the hardest jobs, getting the most out of only two ingredients and one container. It’s probably why Jim Jarmusch went the variety route with five different tales for his memorable 1991 taxi suite “Night on Earth.” That film conveyed a palpable sense of time and space.

“Daddio,” on the other hand, is nowhere near as assured visually or in its pacing. Hall has an experienced cinematographer in Phedon Papamichael (“Nebraska,” “Ford v Ferrari”) but chooses an unfortunate studio gloss that suggests utter control, rather than a what-might-happen vibe. Not that there’s anything wrong with a movie so clearly made on a set. But Johnson’s well-rehearsed poise and Penn’s coasting boldness make them seem like the stars of a commercial for a scent called Common Ground rather than flesh-and-blood people. At times, they hardly seem to be sharing the same car interior, leaving “Daddio” feeling like a safe space, when what it needs is danger.

'Daddio'

Rating: R, for language throughout, sexual material and brief graphic nudity Running time: 1 hour, 41 minutes Playing: In limited release Friday, June 28

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The best and worst-reviewed movies coming to netflix in july 2024.

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Michael J Fox walking across the street in a scene from the film 'Back To The Future', 1985. (Photo ... [+] by Universal/Getty Images)

Netflix has its share of critically acclaimed movies and duds coming to the streaming service in July. Read on to find out which are the best and worst-reviewed movies in the new batch.

As usual, most of the movies new to the streaming service will premiere at the beginning of the month. As such, July 1 marks the debut of director Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man trilogy and director Robert Zemeckis’ Back to the Future trilogy, which were both well-received by critics and audiences.

On the contrary, there are two other new movies on Netflix in July that finish out an infamous movie trilogy that appeared to be doomed by the critical reception of the first film in the series.

Not included in this assessment are four Netflix original films that are making their debuts on the streaming service in July, including movie legend Eddie Murphy’s long-awaited return to the Beverly Hills Cop series with Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F . None of the four new Netflix originals were reviewed by critics before the publication of this article.

Here are the five best-reviewed and five worst-reviewed movies coming to Netflix in July, based on critics’ ratings on the review aggregation site Rotten Tomatoes . RT “fresh” or “rotten” rating ties are broken by RT Audience Scores.

The Best-Reviewed Movies Coming To Netflix

Best high-yield savings accounts of 2024, best 5% interest savings accounts of 2024, 5. ‘american hustle’ (2013).

Directed by David O. Russell, American Hustle follows a pair of grifters, Irving Rosenfeld (Christian Bale) and Sydney Prosser (Amy Adams) who are forced into an undercover operation after being busted by FBI Agent Richie DiMasso (Bradley Cooper).

The FBI’s target is a group of corrupt politicians, including Camden, New Jersey, Mayor Carmine Polito (Jeremy Renner). American Hustle also stars Jennifer Lawrence as Irving’s wife, Rosalyn, who gets caught up in the sting operation.

RT critics gave American Hustle a 92 percent “fresh” rating based on 298 reviews, while more than 100,000 RT users collectively gave the movie a 74% “fresh” Audience Score.

American Hustle was nominated for 10 Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Director for Russell, as well as Best Actor and Actress nominations for Bale and Adams, and Best Supporting Actor and Actress nominations for Cooper and Lawrence.

American Hustle debuts on Netflix on July 1.

4. ‘Spider-Man 2’ (2004)

A rare sequel that’s just as revered as its original film, Spider-Man 2 finds Peter Parker/Spider-Man (Tobey Maguire) encountering a new nemesis, Dr. Otto Octavius/Doc Ock (Alfred Molina).

Kirsten Dunst returns as Peter’s crush, Mary Jane Watson, while James Franco reprises his role of Peter’s best friend, Harry Osborn, from the original Spider-Man in 2002.

RT critics gave Spider-Man 2 a 93% “fresh” rating based on 277 reviews, while RT users gave the movie an 82% “fresh” Audience Score based on 250,000-plus user ratings.

Spider-Man 2 debuts on Netflix on July 1.

3. ‘Captain Phillips’ (2013)

Based on a real-life incident in 2009, Captain Phillips stars Tom Hanks as Captain Richard Phillips, whose vessel—the MV Maersk Alabama—became the first U.S. cargo ship to be hijacked in 200 years.

Barkhad Abdi also stars as Muse, who leads the band of Somali pirates who hijack Phillips’ ship.

RT critics gave Captain Phillips a 93% “fresh” rating based on 281 reviews. The RT Audience Score was 89% percent “fresh” based on 100,000-plus user ratings.

Captain Phillips was nominated for six Oscars, including Best Picture. Abdi also earned a Best Supporting Actor nomination in his first screen role.

Captain Phillips debuts on Netflix July 1

2. ‘Back to the Future’ (1985)

Back to the Future stars Michael J. Fox as Marty McFly, a California teen in the 1980s who is accidentally transported back to the 1950s in his mentor Doc Brown’s (Christopher Lloyd) DeLorean car/time machine.

Because of his inadvertent blast into the past, Marty puts his future in jeopardy when he encounters his parents Lorraine and George (Lea Thompson and Crispin Glover). Thomas F. Wilson also stars in Back to the Future as George’s bully, Biff Tanen.

RT critics gave Back to the Future a 93% “fresh” rating based on 111 reviews, while the sci-fi adventure comedy earned a 95% “fresh” Audience Score based on 250,000-plus user ratings.

Back to the Future debuts on Netflix on July 1.

1. ‘Call Me by Your Name’ (2017)

Timothée Chalamet stars in Call Me by Your Name , which chronicles a love affair in Italy in 1983 between 17-year-old Elio (Chalamet) and his father’s research assistant, Oliver (Armie Hammer), a 24-year-old graduate student.

Directed by Luca Guadagnino, Call Me by Your Name earned four Oscar nominations including Best Picture and Best Actor for Chalamet. The film won a Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar for screenwriter James Ivory.

RT gave Call Me By You Name a 94% “fresh” rating based on 364 reviews. RT users gave the film an 86% “fresh” Audience Score based on 10,000-plus user ratings.

Call Me by Your Name debuts on Netflix on July 1.

The Worst-Reviewed Movies Coming To Netflix

5. ‘bad boys ii’ (2003).

The first sequel to the 1995 hit Bad Boys , Bad Boys II reunites Will Smith and Martin Lawrence as Miami police detectives Mike Lowrey and Marcus Burnett, who are trying to stop a Cuban drug cartel from smuggling ecstasy into their city.

Arriving on Netflix in time to capitalize on the theatrical success of Bad Boys: Ride or Die , the first two films in the four-chapter action series didn’t receive nearly the critical praise.

Bad Boys II has the worst Rotten Tomatoes score in the franchise, with a 24% “rotten” rating based on 186 reviews. Viewers reacted much differently, however, giving the film a 78% “fresh” RT Audience Score based on 250,000-plus user ratings.

Bad Boys II debuts on Netflix on July 8.

4. ‘Midnight Sun’ (2018)

Bella Thorne and Patrick Schwarzenegger star as Katie Price and Charlie Reed in Midnight Sun , a teen romance drama about how the couple copes with an illness that prevents Katie from being out in the sun.

RT critics gave Midnight Sun a 20% “rotten” rating, while viewers seemed a little more impressed. Still, the movie was deemed “rotten” with a 56% Audience Score based on 1,000-plus RT user ratings.

Midnight Sun debuts on Netflix on July 15.

3. ‘The Boy Next Door’ (2015)

Jennifer Lopez stars in The Boy Next Door , a crime thriller about how a dangerous situation develops after divorced school teacher Claire Peterson (Lopez) has a one-night stand with her 19-year-old former student, Noah Sandborn (Ryan Guzman).

After the one encounter, Claire tries to end the relationship but Noah becomes enraged.

RT critics gave The Boy Next Door a 12% “rotten” rating based on 139 reviews, while viewers gave the movie a 34% “rotten” Audience Score based on 25,000-plus RT user ratings.

The Boy Next Door debuts on Netflix on July 16.

2. ‘Fifty Shades Darker’ (2017)

Two years after critics trashed Fifty Shades of Grey , Fifty Shades Darker —the second book in author E.L. James’ erotic book trilogy—was released.

Dakota Johnson reprises her role of Anastasia Steele, who fell under the spell of billionaire businessman Christian Grey (Jamie Dornan, back for round two) and his lurid world of BDSM in the first film. Fifty Shades Darker finds Christian trying to lure Anastasia back into his life after she left him at the conclusion of Fifty Shades of Grey .

RT critics gave 50 Shades Darker an 11% “rotten” rating based on 209 reviews. Viewers were more split on their reaction to the film, giving it a 48% “rotten” RT Audience Score based on 25,000-plus user ratings.

Fifty Shades Darker debuts on Netflix on July 16.

1. ‘Fifty Shades Freed’ (2018)

E.L. James’ Fifty Shades book-turned-movie trilogy concluded with Fifty Shades Freed .

Anastasia Steele (Dakota Johnson) accepted Christian Grey’s (Jamie Dornan) marriage proposal at the end of Fifty Shades Darker and 50 Shades Freed finds the two as newlyweds. Things get complicated when Anastasia reveals that she is pregnant, but her joy is tempered when she learns Christian is communicating with a former BDSM dominant.

Fifty Shades Freed —like Fifty Shades Darker —received an 11% percent “rotten” rating from RT critics, but this rating was based on 194 reviews. Fifty Shades Freed , however, earned the No. 1 spot as the worst movie new on Netflix in July because it earned a 38% “rotten” Audience Score based on 5,000-plus user ratings.

Fifty Shades Freed debuts on Netflix on July 16.

If viewers want to take in the entire Fifty Shades movie trilogy, Netflix added the first film—2015’s Fifty Shades of Grey —to its streaming platform in June .

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‘Horizon: An American Saga — Chapter 1’ Review: The Beauty, and the Bloodshed

In the first of a projected four-film cycle, Kevin Costner revisits the western genre and U.S. history in a big, busy drama.

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A man in a cowboy hat rides on a horse with a line of donkeys behind him.

By Manohla Dargis

Midway through Kevin Costner’s big, busy, decentered western “Horizon: An American Saga — Chapter 1,” the actor Danny Huston delivers a brief speech. The year is 1863 — two years into the Civil War — and his character, a colonel in charge of a military fort in the southwest, is discoursing on a nearby settlement called Horizon. Apaches have recently burned the hamlet to the ground, killing scores of settlers. You simply need look at the land, the colonel says, to see why the newcomers will keep coming.

“You may recall that’s what drove us across the ocean to this country in the first place.”

Huston, an imposing presence with a rich, sepulchral voice that can suggest depths, delivers this nod at Manifest Destiny with arid sobriety. His words certainly sound meaningful yet this reference to American expansionism just hangs in the air, untethered from history or ideology. Given this nod as well as the film’s large scale, crowded cast, multiple story lines and nearly three-hour run time, it’s reasonable to assume that Costner will add context, commentary or, really, anything . Yet all that’s clear from “Chapter 1,” the lead-in for his splashily publicized four-film cycle , is that the land was vast and beautiful, and everyone wanted a piece.

“Chapter 1” is the first movie that Costner has directed since his 2003 western “Open Range,” an earnest period drama about free-grazing cattlemen facing down a wealthy rancher. What’s striking about that film, beyond how Costner draws from so many different genre touchstones — John Ford, Clint Eastwood and Sam Peckinpah, among others — is how he tries to honor old-fashioned westerns that he so clearly loves while also complicating the myth of the American West through his character, a violence-haunted gunfighter.

A version of that same man — tough, terse, good with a gun, not bad with the little ladies and now named Hayes Ellison — rides into “Chapter 1” about an hour in, handsomely framed against a bright blue sky. What takes him so long? Given how the movie plays like an extended prologue, I suspect that Costner timed his entrance for a four-part project rather than for a stand-alone film. That makes it tough to get a handle on precisely what he’s up to here, other than gesturing at history, re-engaging with an archetypically American genre and readying the foundation for an epic that will continue when “Chapter 2” opens in August.

Written by Costner and Jon Baird, “Chapter 1” features uneven lines of action that jump across the map, from the southwest to the Territory of Wyoming. In one section, bad men with good cheekbones, their dusters trimmed with animals skins à la Gladiatorial Rome, chase after a righteously violent woman (Jena Malone in a lively, credible turn). In time, they end up in one of those frontier towns with muddy streets and desperate characters, a sinkhole where Hayes rides in with some gold and exits with Marigold (Abbey Lee), a lady of the evening (and afternoon). In another section, Luke Wilson leads a wagon train peopled with tough Americans, Laplander goons and two British twits itching for some punishment.

The story line that revs up the action centers on the settlement, a riverfront hamlet on a ribbon of green that winds through the desert and has attracted the attention of a tribe of White Mountain Apache led by Tuayeseh (Gregory Cruz). Soon after the movie opens, the settlers are swinging their partners to fiddles like good John Ford folk; not long after, many are dead, cut down by Apaches. Among the survivors are the newly widowed, impeccably manicured Frances Kittredge (Sienna Miller) and her daughter, Elizabeth (Georgia MacPhail), who take refuge in the fort. There, they meet a first lieutenant, Trent Gephart (Sam Worthington), a thoughtful soul who refers to Native Americans as Indigenous.

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Blue Lock: Episode Nagi Review

The popular soccer anime, seen from a fresh perspective..

The first thing you should know about Blue Lock: Episode Nagi is that it’s halfway between a recap movie and a side story. We've come a long way from the dozens of standalone, non-canon features based on popular anime like Dragon Ball and Naruto, but Episode Nagi isn't an essential next chapter in an ongoing series like Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Movie: Mugen Train or Haikyu!! The Dumpster Battle . Instead, it's set before and during the events of the first season of Blue Lock, the popular, ludicrous, and thrilling soccer anime about a Squid Game -like competition/training program intended to create the world's best forward striker.

The focus is on the titular Seishiro Nagi, a standout character from Season 1, and his best friend, Reo Mikage. This means that Episode Nagi repeats a lot of the structure, and even plenty of scenes, from Season 1. But make no mistake: This is no mere recap or compilation film. It’s not even another Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba - To the Hashira Training situation, providing a sneak peek at upcoming episodes following a whole lot of recap. Instead, it primarily consists of new material showing Nagi and Reo's first meeting and blossoming friendship in the lead-up to them joining the Blue Lock program, and their experience with the first couple of rounds of eliminations. What Tom Stoppard’s dark comedy Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead is to Hamlet, Episode Nagi is to Blue Lock, as we explore some of the events of Season 1 reframed from Nagi and Reo’s point of view – which reveals their own trials and tribulations.

Blue Lock: Episode Nagi Gallery

Much like the recent Haikyu!! The Dumpster Battle, the emotional crux of Episode Nagi is the protagonist's complete indifference toward sports, and the question of whether he'll be able to learn to love them. When we first meet Nagi, he only cares about video games. His life revolves around making the least amount of effort because otherwise everything is a hassle to him – like eating, which leads to brushing his teeth, which is a waste of time. The attitude could become rather annoying rather quickly, but voice actor Nobunaga Shimazaki gives Nagi enough of an innocent charm to make him funny and never irritating. Indeed, it's easy to root for Nagi – to relate when he tries to leave Blue Lock the moment they tell him he can't use his phone, or when he learns he'll spend all his time in the program training (and only training).

It’s also easy to root for him as he slowly opens up to Reo, who starts out as a rich kid pushing Nagi to be his soccer teammate and becomes a true friend. What was a mostly one-note character on the show now gets as much depth as the first season's main character, Yoichi Isagi. That alone makes Episode Nagi an essential addition to the overall Blue Lock experience.

What is the best sports anime?

Though there are times when the first season's wonky CGI rears its ugly head – particularly during previously seen scenes like the match between Team V and Team Z – Episode Nagi takes advantage of its bigger budget to deliver some thrilling 2D animation. The matches are fast-paced, detailed, and exhilarating, with a good blend of actual soccer skills and over-the-top superpowers. Particularly great is the visualization of the characters' auras as their egos awakens alongside their talent: Isagi's spatial awareness appearing as puzzle pieces falling into place, or Nagi's ability to kill a ball's momentum with one touch represented by a grim reaper.

Unfortunately, the feature-length format leads to some bizarre choices, like cramming all translations into two subtitle lines – meaning every time there’s text on screen, it’s translated alongside dialogue, which goes by so fast that it's easy to miss out on a lot of information. And despite devoting most of its runtime to new material , the last 10 of Episode Nagi nearly ruin what comes before. While a natural and effective climax arrives when Nagi teams up with Isagi, the film keeps going, condensing the remaining 12 episodes of Season 1 into a single montage that comes across as forced and clunky. It rushes past a face-off between Reo and Nagi, which runs counter to everything Episode Nagi has shown us up to that point. My advice: Leave the theater when the montage starts and rewatch the show on your own.

Blue Lock: Episode Nagi is an inventive way of recapping the story of the first season of Blue Lock without just repeating the same old scenes. Instead, we get a poignant side story that deepens one of the show's characters, and makes the Blue Lock program feel larger by showcasing the perspective of players other than protagonist Yoichi Isagi.

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Though Windfall falls short of its potential, there's still a lot to like about this off-centre, tightly wound ride. Steadily enjoyable (if not entirely memorable) and far more sophisticated than the average Netflix original, ... Windfall (2022) Netflix Movie Review - Stylish, clever, but ultimately inconsistent. 8 April 2022 8 April 2022 ...
Film Review: Windfall is a chamber play that's fun in the moment
Netflix goes Hitchcockian in this collision of the classes. NOW STREAMING: Powered by JustWatch Without any awareness of the Hitchcockian tag—impossible, what with it being The Point in the marketing, but let's try—Windfall is the best advert yet for Ojai, California. Right from the get-go, director and co-writer Charlie McDowell serenely guides viewers around a gorgeous hacienda with an ...
'Windfall' Netflix Review: Stream It or Skip It?
Stream It Or Skip It: 'Windfall' on Netflix, a Spiky Home-Invasion Comedy Thriller Pitting the Haves vs. the Have-nots. By John Serba. Published March 18, 2022, 3:30 p.m. ET. Just an off-the ...
WINDFALL
WINDFALL is a unique crime, drama streaming on Netflix about a man who breaks into the house of a tech billionaire, but whose plans go awry when the billionaire and his wife make a surprise visit to their vacation home. The movie opens as a man wonders about the property of a luxurious vacation home.
'Last Summer' Review: A Shocking Affair to Remember
Abby Elliott's New Recipe: The acclaimed show "The Bear" has allowed Elliott, a comic actor from a famously funny family, to embrace her dramatic side. 'Doctor Who' in Review: Ncuti ...
'A Quiet Place: Day One' review: Lupita Nyong'o and Joseph ...
Like "The Walking Dead," "A Quiet Place" pries opens the door to a world with a host of possibilities, some of them - including the premise of a new prequel subtitled "Day One ...
'Kalki 2898 AD' Review: An Unabashedly Derivative Spectacle
'Kalki 2898 AD' Review: Lavish Tollywood Sci-Fi Epic Is an Unabashedly Derivative Spectacle Reviewed at AMC Fountains 18, Houston, June 26, 2024. Running time: 181 MIN.
'Daddio' review: Cab ride from hell could use more hell
Review: In the underpowered 'Daddio,' the proverbial cab ride from hell could use more hell Dakota Johnson and Sean Penn in the movie "Daddio." (Sony Pictures Classics)
The Best And Worst-Reviewed Movies Coming To Netflix In July 2024
RT critics gave Spider-Man 2 a 93% "fresh" rating based on 277 reviews, while RT users gave the movie an 82% "fresh" Audience Score based on 250,000-plus user ratings. Spider-Man 2 debuts ...
'Horizon: An American Saga
Midway through Kevin Costner's big, busy, decentered western "Horizon: An American Saga — Chapter 1," the actor Danny Huston delivers a brief speech.
Blue Lock: Episode Nagi Review
The first thing you should know about Blue Lock: Episode Nagi is that it's halfway between a recap movie and a side story. We've come a long way from the dozens of standalone, non-canon features ...