Prime Time: Upgraded (2024)

A misunderstanding that leads to someone trying to maintain an unrealistic image of their life, a number of coincidences making everything more complicated on the way, and one or two supporting characters doing their best to trip up our lead. Yes, we’re firmly in rom-com territory with Upgraded, a film that I saw someone else cannily sum up as a standard rom-com mixed with more than a hint of The Devil Wears Prada. 

Camila Mendes plays Ana, a young intern struggling to make the right impression in front of her boss, a hard taskmaster named Claire (Marisa Tomei). While heading to the UK to close a deal that will gain them a hefty commission, they are in the business of evaluating and auctioning art, Ana is mistreated at the airport so appallingly that she is upgraded to first class by a kind ticket agent. It is in this unfamiliar environment that Ana meets Will (Archie Renaux), getting on so well that she is befriended by his mother (Catherine, played by Lena Olin). Which is all well and good, until she starts to develop a busy social life that might create a clash with her work duties.

Writers Christine Lenig, Justin Matthews, and Luke Spencer Robert’s don’t have the most extensive filmographies, but it quickly becomes clear that each member of the team knows the formula needed at the heart of this film. There are some quirky supporting characters and some surprisingly funny lines of dialogue in the first half of the movie, but we all know where it needs to end up. The truth needs to come out, and at least one big romantic gesture is always welcome.

Director Carlson Young has a similarly small body of work, certainly in her directing role, but has been acting, mainly in TV shows, for a number of years. She is arguably best known for her role in the Scream TV series, where she played Brooke Maddox, but the skill and polish on display here bodes well for her future as a helmer of slick popular entertainment.

Mendes is perfectly fine in the lead role, and Renaux pairs up well enough with her. The two of them are as cute and safe as expected, but they actually feel like they have chemistry as their meet-cute turns into something more. Tomei has a lot of fun being the super-mean and super-demanding boss, Olin also seems to enjoy being a quirky and loving socialite/ex-model/actress, joined at times by a carefree and spirited artist (played by Anthony Head), and two “mean girls” are played well by Rachel Matthews and Fola Evans-Akingbola. There are also enjoyable supporting turns from Andrew Schulz, Saoirse-Monica Jackson, and Thomas Kretschmann.

Easy to enjoy, as long as you’re in the mood for this kind of thing, this is the kind of film that should manage to force a smile out of even the most resistant of viewers. You get a good mix of characters, the cast all seem to be enjoying themselves immensely, and the third act delivers one or two very satisfying moments. It’s not sophisticated, it’s far from perfect (I have already forgotten any of the score/soundtrack, for example), but it’s a bloody good time while it’s on.

7/10

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Happy Death Day 2U (2019)

I really enjoyed the timeloop slasher shenanigans of Happy Death Day so I knew I would be keen to see a sequel. My enthusiasm for it was not at all diminished when I heard that it takes things in a surprisingly different direction from the first film, focusing on more comedy than thrills, and I think that most people should be aware of that before the film begins. Because this IS a very different beast from its predecessor, despite early scenes trying to pretend otherwise (for all of ten minutes).

Tree (Jessica Rothe) is delighted to have finally reached the day after her birthday, the day that she was stuck in for the duration of the first movie, waking up every morning in a bed in the dorm room of Carter (Israel Broussard).  Unfortunately, the same problem is now affecting Carter's roommate, Ryan (Phi Vu). But there's every chance that it has something to do with the science project that he has been working on with Samar (Suraj Sharma) and Andrea (Sarah Yarkin). And it's not just time that has been pushed out of whack, there are parallel universes to also consider.

As well as all of the returning faces in front of the camera, Christopher Landon is back in the director's chair, and also gives himself the writing duties this time around. There's not as much needed this time around when it comes to establishing the visual signposts, and Landon uses the freedom to get things moving along as quickly as possible, removing the tension and upping the quirkiness and the comedy. It's a bold choice, and not an entirely successful one, for reasons that I'll get to after the next paragraph (see, I DO plan what I write sometimes).

All of the leads do great work, with Rothe and Broussard once again proving a great pairing to anchor the main events. Vu is immediately likeable as soon as he is pushed front and centre, while Sharma and Yarkin get a nice selection of scene-stealing lines and moments between them. Steve Zissis is the stereotypical angry dean who gets in the way of things, and he is fun in that role, while Ruby Modine, Rachel Matthews, and Charles Aitken all seem to enjoy portraying their characters with a bit of a twist, compared to how we viewed them the first time around.

I quite enjoyed the comedy of Happy Death Day 2U (there's a death montage that is one of the most enjoyably twisted and amusing things I have seen in a "teen movie" in years). I didn't even mind the more dramatic moments, forced as they were, when Tree was once again struggling to deal with the loss of her mother. I could have done without that particular strand, and I think the film would have been better without it, but it's perfectly fine, for what it is. So it's a shame there's so little tension this time around, the little that is there dissipates by the time we get to the third act. And it's an even greater shame that more intriguing possibilities teased in the earlier scenes are then just dropped for the rest of the film. Those are the two main failings of the film, major enough to at least drag this just below the bar set by the first film.

If you ensure that you have calibrated your expectations before pressing play, Happy Death Day 2U is fun. It's just easy to see ways in which it could have been so much better.

6/10

You can buy the movie here.
Americans can buy it here.