Had this above-average Lifetime chiller been released in the dead of winter, it might have found more than moderate box-office success to be considered a hit for first-time writer-director Joel Edgerton (he was pretty great in the underrated Warrior). Instead, the heat of late summer blockbusters should wilt any chances The Gift has of being opened by most moviegoers.
Outwardly happy couple Simon and Robyn (Jason Bateman and Rebecca Hall) move near Simon’s old hometown and run into a forgotten acquaintance, Gordo (Edgerton), who tries a little too hard to reconnect with his old schoolmate. Several secrets are eventually revealed, and the movie ends up a few streets over from its assumed destination.
It’s not cut from the exact same cloth as What Lies Beneath the Hand that Rocks the Single White Female. Edgerton must have called in several favors, as familiar faces like Allison Tolman (FX’s awesome “Fargo”), Busy Philipps, David Denman (“The Office”), Katie Aselton (“The League”) and Wendell Pierce, kind of reprising “The Wire”’s Bunk, continue to appear.
Edgerton peppers his adult after-school special with enough effective jump scares to terrify a grown man (that was not me) into a grown man “ahhh!” It even gets a bit tough to watch before the final act reveal, which is satisfying enough for the unambitious movie that set it up. It also never feels as if the characters are doing 180s in order to justify its revelations. Edgerton smartly plants the seeds early. I’m not predicting Oscars in his future, but Eastwood the director started out with similar results in such stalkerish territory.
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