Bodies Bodies Bodies

When I first saw trailers for Bodies Bodies Bodies and that it was associated with A24, I knew it would go either 1 of 2 ways: 

It could be an obnoxious, yet somehow endearing wild film about youth that buries itself in my mind similar to Spring Breakers (another A24 film)

Or...

It would be annoying, trivial, stupid, and make me feel old.

Unfortunately, it's more toward the latter. And it gives me no pleasure in saying that because it makes me feel like an old man shouting at clouds. "Get off my lawn with those damn TikToks, ya hear!"

Bodies Bodies Bodies represents a rare miss for A24 - at least out of those I've seen - though I imagine that, like most films from this production company, it will have its loyal fans. It clearly wasn't designed with me in mind and annoyed me of the generation it captures more than I already am in everyday life. ("The darn YOUTHS!").

Our story is very basic: a group of friends get together for a hurricane party (which is already stupid) to do drugs, drink, and hang out at David's (Pete Davidson's) family's expensive mansion. Eventually, they start to play "Bodies Bodies Bodies", which is basically the same as Werewolf for most folks, an actual dead body is found, and the craziness ensues. It attempts to have more story than that with a bunch of backstory for each character that's revealed through their Gen Z conversations. The horror mystery is fine enough - I was genuinely starting to wonder who was the point person for all these murders - but the backstories these girls and guys are painfully dumb and cringe-worthy. I recognize a lot of it is meant to be commentary on the TikTok generation, but that doesn't mean it's A) good or B) entertaining. I found it neither of those things, and was more annoying than anything. This rears its head heavily during a sequence near the end that becomes all about revealed gossip where I'm pretty sure I checked the time 3-4 times in the span of 15 minutes. I don't want to spoil the final reveal, but it made me laugh and roll my eyes at the same time; likely intended, but certainly didn't help my opinion of the film much. In short, Bodies x3 is a film with almost entirely unlikeable characters and I had a hard time finding much any one to root for. 

So you're saying having this party in a hurricane was a bad idea?!

The benefit of being an A24 film however is that there's usually some skilled filmmaking at hand. Before that, I will give appreciation to the cast for emphasizing all their characters' "toxic" traits and turning in above average performances overall. Maria Bakalova is the standout here, not nearly to the degree she was in Borat 2, but still enough to mention. There's a handful of genuinely tense scenes and sequences that are more in line with horror/thriller than the subpar comedy. Like the trailer may have indicated, that's infused with a pretty great soundtrack of equally obnoxious, deep bass songs, that set an appropriate tone for this group. 

Bodies Bodies Bodies was not a film targeted towards me. And for an A24 movie, it doesn't bring enough special things to the table to justify it as a "cinephile" watch. Instead, it's a film that thinks it's more clever than it is when it's actually quite forgettable, packed with characters that suck, and is generally just kind of annoying. 

CONS

• I get there's a lot of commentary on Gen Z here...doesn't mean I enjoyed it
• The characters are nearly all unlikable at some point (or the entire time)
• Their "backstories" are dumb and most are petty
• I didn't find it all that funny
• Horror elements lack at points
• Final reveal is...well...eye rolling

PROS

• Solid cast that feeds into their characters and how much they suck
• Genuine mystery/thriller of "who's doing this" for a good chunk of the film
• Lit AF soundtrack (as the kids say)
• Final reveal is...also decently funny

Rath's Review Score | 4.5/10