Ingrid Gets Baked (Ingrid Goes West Review)
*TW: MENTIONS OF SUICIDE.USA NATIONAL SUICIDE HOTLINE: Text/Chat/Call 988*
TW: mentions of suicide throughout, the film has a harmful portrayal of mental illness
Review Overview: From a purely unbiased and uncritical standpoint, this movie is entertaining and funny. It's beautifully shot, and the actors all do a great job.
It's about parasocial relationships and the adverse effects of social media. However, it doesn't dig very deep into those topics. It stays at the surface level with the social commentary. It starts a conversation but doesn't contribute much to it.
It doesn't portray mental illness very well. In a way, it also glorifies s*icide with how the movie ends.
2/5
kat 0:00
Hello, and welcome to Easy Bake Oven, the podcast, I'm Kat
ryley 0:03
And I'm Ryley.
kat 0:04
And this week we watched Ingrid Goes West. Just a quick trigger warning for if you are planning to watch the movie, there is an attempted suicide. And there are also mentions of it throughout this podcast episode, because that is a big issue people have with the movie. And also this film could also be seen as a mockery of mental illness, specifically, borderline personality disorder. So if that or anything else that was listed is something that you might be sensitive to, I suggest you skip this episode, because it will be mentioned all throughout. So before we get into the movie, I just wanted to quickly define what a parasocial relationship is for anyone that doesn't know. And this definition is from dictionary.com. The term parasocial relationship refers to a relationship that a person imagines having with another person who they do not actually know, such as a celebrity or a fictional character, or like a someone on a sports team or something like that, or an influencer. This often involves a person feeling as though they have a close and intimate relationship with someone who they've never met, due to following that person closely in media, such as in TV shows, videos, podcasts, social media, etc. And then, do you think that you have ever in any capacity had some sort of like parasocial relationship with a celebrity or engaged in cyber stalking?
ryley 1:34
I think when I was like, 14, like, you know.
kat 1:37
I think that's when most of us kind of did that.
ryley 1:39
And I don't think that's necessarily unhealthy behavior. Like you're 14.
kat 1:44
There's a line.
ryley 1:45
There's a line, definitely, but like, I mean, if you're just 14, and you're like, you really liked this band. I think I think it's fine. Yeah, as long as you're not looking at their I don't know, like, just doing-
kat 1:57
Yeah, as long as it doesn't turn into real life stalking.
ryley 1:59
Yeah, real life stalking.
kat 2:00
And, like, Yeah, but like, you know, we've all kind of touched on it, at the very least, when we were teenagers, maybe some of us when we were older. But like, you know, as an example, you know, like the John Mulaney, Anna Marie Tendler divorce Hullabaloo, you know, I got, like, touches where I was like, No, I know him. You know, like, I know, he would- I know, he wouldn't do that. And like the- it's like, no, I don't know him. I don't know their situation. I only know what tik tok has told me about when it's going.
I think that also was like a reality check for me of going like, he's not like because like I would
We're not friends
ryley 2:31
We're not friends. And also like, you know, you watch a lot of stand up and you think he's this type of person. He you know, he would you know, you get a just a character in your head of like, this person is what I think they are and this stuff happens and you get mad about that. You know like that- he's a wreck. He's a person who don't know and is, is has a personality that you don't it has a whole- it's a performance he's doing, ya know?
kat 3:00
Yeah, he's, uh, he's creating a persona for his stand-up.
ryley 3:03
Exactly. It's a human being, he's more complex than what you see.
kat 3:07
Also, every comedian's stories are either very exaggerated, or they're made up,
ryley 3:12
Or they're just made up. They're just 100%-
kat 3:15
For the punch line. You know?
ryley 3:17
It's still funny. There's nothing wrong with that, you know? Just don't take it too seriously, you know?
kat 3:21
Yeah, exactly. So, back to Ingrid goes west. This film was released in August of 2017. It has a 97 minute runtime, we love that. It was distributed by neon. A quick summary of the film is, "following the death of her mother and a series of self inflicted setbacks, young Ingrid Thorburn escaped a humdrum existence by moving out west to befriend her Instagram obsession, a Los Angeles socialite named Taylor Sloane. After a quick bond is forged between these unlikeliest of buddies, that facade begins to crack in both women's lives with comically malicious results. This film, won the 2017 Sundance film festivals, Waldo Salt screenwriting award. So, technically like this, the screenplay one and award and then this film stars, Aubrey Plaza, Elizabeth Olsen, O'Shea Jackson Jr., Billy Magnussen, Wyatt Russell and Pom Klementieff. So Aubrey Plaza plays Ingrid and you- a lot of people will probably know her from Parks and Rec. She's also been in the Little Hours, Safety Not Guaranteed, Dirty Grandpa and the To Do List. Elizabeth Olsen is most known for her role in The Avengers series and like being what's it- Wanda in Wanda Vision and Marvel stuff. She's also in Wind River and Martha Marcy May Marlene and she plays Taylor. O'Shea Jackson Jr. plays Dan. He's actually I think he's Ice Cube's son, he plays him in Straight out of Compton. He's also been in Long Shot and Godzilla King of the Monsters. Wyatt Russell plays Ezra who is Taylor's boyfriend, and he's been in Overlord, Everybody Wants Some, 22 Jump Street and Cold in July. Yes.
ryley 5:11
And fun fact, he's Kurt Russell son. And what's what's her name? Holly Goldwell shoot Golding, his wife, who's also very famous.
kat 5:29
And then Elizabeth Olsen is Mary Kate and Ashley's, younger sister. So the next one Billy Magnussen, who plays Nicki, who is Taylor's younger brother. I don't know if he's younger actually, Taylor's brother. He he's been in Into the Woods, The Big Short, game, Game Night and No Time to Die. Pom Klementieff plays Harley who is Nicki's new girlfriend sort of and she was Mantis in Guardians of the Galaxy Volume Two. She was in Old Boy and Avengers Infinity War, which I didn't realize that she was in that movie, because when that movie initially came out, Guardians of the Galaxy Volume Two hadn't come out yet. So she's the one with a little
ryley 6:10
Yeah.
kat 6:10
Yeah. So this movie was written by David Branson Smith and Matt Spicer. David Branson Smith has also written Jungle Land, Bad Sports and Unreal. Matt Spicer also directed the movie and I think I read somewhere that this was his like directorial debut, or at least like the writing debut or something for him. He's also written flower camp and magic. No, not flower camp, Flower, and Magic Camp. The cinematography was done by Bryce Fortner. Who has done Professor Marston and the Wonder Woman, Parallels and Shadowplay. And lastly, a fun fact about the production of this movie. The production got delayed because director Matt Spicer walked through a sliding glass door on accident, after he yelled cut, and the gaffers on set had to remove glass from his arm with duct tape.
ryley 7:04
Oh.
kat 7:05
And then after that, production got delayed again because there were raging Santa Clarita brush fires in LA County. What were your thoughts on this this film?
ryley 7:16
Okay, so like starting out, like I really, really liked it. I thought it was very interesting. I think Aubrey Plaza does a great, great job. That's like a pretty film. Not gonna lie. Like it's really like, I like how it shot. But like it has its, you know, it has its issues. I mean, I like it for the acting. I like how it looked I like, but I think the story, and what goes on the movie might be a little, I don't wanna say controversial, but it might be. I don't know,
kat 7:43
we'll touch on that a little more. With the critical reviews in a second. Cuz that's that is a big point of it. So for me, I think it's an interesting starting point for commentary on social media and parasocial relationships. I don't think it fully executed it in the way I thought it did. I think it attempts to show a parasocial relationship gone wrong. But this movie gave me so much secondhand embarrassment the whole time. And I know that's probably the point. But like, there's a certain point where I'm like, I have to skip this because I just feel uncomfortable.
ryley 8:17
Exactly. Yeah. Because she's I mean, Aubrey Plaza is awkward in this movie. It is, oof.
kat 8:25
She plays the role really well.
ryley 8:26
She does very well. I know it's got some funny parts in it too.
kat 8:30
Yeah. Moving on to the critical reviews. First review that I found is from a website called Battleship Pretension, which sounds like the name that a film junkie would give their film review website. So this, this review was by David Bax, and was written in 2017. Bax thinks that Spicer has the ideas but does not know what he has to say about these ideas that he brings up. Also mentions that there are enough people like Taylor in in LA to, quote, "sell out a Father John Misty concert at the Greek every night for a year," end quote.
ryley 9:10
that's a good yeah, very specific, and I think accurate.
kat 9:15
Very 2017.
ryley 9:16
Yes.
kat 9:18
And then goes on to say that at his best, Spicer is pointing out the ways in which people like Taylor and especially people like Ingrid are reaching towards something while pulling themselves away from it at the same time. And then Spicer's attempt to go so far to establish Ingrid as truly unwell, and then doubling back and turning her pain into a joke undoes all of the work the film initially did. And then Bax claims that the film lacks a dedication.
ryley 9:47
I can agree with that.
kat 9:49
Yeah, like, you know, like he, it's very obvious like after reading all the reviews that I read, a lot of them like, hit like, talk about the fact of how this movie handles mental health. And it's the punch line of the movie.
ryley 10:05
Yeah.
kat 10:05
The next review is from 812 Film reviews. And it's titled "Ingrid goes west how mental illness shouldn't be represented" by Robert Daniels, and this was written in 2018. And Daniels gave this movie a two out of four. You'll notice here that everyone uses their own scale. And none of them use the same scale for writing this movie.
ryley 10:29
That's so funny, I love that.
kat 10:31
It's all over the place. There's letters and numbers. So, Daniels thinks that Spencer's film is as harmful as the social media he claims to critique. as Spicer doesn't stay on the track of living vicariously through social media and instead he chooses to link Ingrid's social media usage to the death of her mother. It's clear that Ingrid is mentally ill, but the audience is made to laugh at her, and then goes on to compare how Ingrid is portrayed in this movie and how Tonya Harding was portrayed in I Tonya, and says that in I Tonya, the movie invites you to see that Harding needs help, like, understand that and have some empathy towards her. But in Ingrid goes west, this movie just completely fails to extend any kind of empathy to Ingrid. And then Daniels believes that this tactic of making of the portrayal of the mental illness of Ingrid is like it becomes super stale quickly while watching the movie. And then this is another common theme, but Dan is the only character that cares about the real Ingrid and that O'Shea Jackson Jr. is a breath of fresh air to this drab film. The addition of the character of Nikki immediately undermines what is setup between Dan and Ingrid and Nikki doesn't progress past the initial quote, white toxic "white privilege, toxic bro" stereotype and then Spicer depends on unlikely scenarios to move the plot forward, and then uses domestic violence as a punch line. While feeding into the stereotype of women lying about said violence. Daniels still applauds the acting performances of like Olson and Plaza, but says that their performances are undone by a short sighted and harmful script.
ryley 12:15
Yeah.
kat 12:16
They go on to say that like Spicer's observations are very surface level, and just feeds into the toxic cycle of glorifying suicide attempts and lacks empathy. And quote, "Spicer could have taken a journey in any direction. Instead, Ingrid is a spinning compass in a magnetic field of empathetic debris," end quote.
ryley 12:36
Wow, he got poetic with that. Which I do understand what he's saying, though.
kat 12:43
Like, I think there's only one review that doesn't really touch on the harmful portrayal of mental illness in this. And it's just it's very clear that that's a problem here. And it's interesting to see that people were picking up on that in like, 2017 2018 this movie, not to say that we that's super far away, but it just doesn't seem like something that was as much of a part of the conversation.
ryley 13:05
Yeah, definitely.
kat 13:06
It was still in like the beginning stages of like,
ryley 13:09
Yeah, I mean, it definitely wasn't like, how it is today, where it's so easily talked about. I mean, like, you know, it's way so much more talked about now.
kat 13:19
Easier.
ryley 13:20
Easier to talk about more. Not that it's easy, but it is easier nowadays to do it. But I would agree like this movie, I feel like just kind of villainize her. And like, really,
kat 13:34
And not no, not, not in a way that's helpful to the plot or anything. It's just kind of like, Haha, she's-
ryley 13:40
Haha, she's crazy.
kat 13:41
Mentally ill.
ryley 13:42
Like, like, literally, like, I feel like they would say that because like, that's how they're just kind of portraying Plaza's character in this movie. And it's, um, yeah, it's, it's kind of dissapointing. They throw in that her mom died.
kat 13:55
At like the beginning,
ryley 13:56
At the beginning.
kat 13:57
and then randomly at the end.
ryley 13:58
Yeah, it's like, okay.
kat 14:01
Like, she- there's no setup for like, like, if you're going to use that as something that like, drives Ingrid, I don't know, make it more part of the her character, or make it to where she's actively trying to hide the fact that her mom died. She's trying to hide the money. Like she's trying to hide the fact that like, she has a bunch of money from her mom, but like, I don't know, it just it loses like, it literally just loses focus, you know?
ryley 14:24
Definitely.
kat 14:26
So the next thing, the next review is from the last thing I see. And is by Brent McKnight, and it's from 2020. And Brent gave this movie a B plus.
ryley 14:37
Okay.
kat 14:40
A new scale. So have you ever heard of the movie Single white female?
ryley 14:45
Yes. Yeah.
kat 14:47
So a few of a few of the other reviews kind of compare it to that movie a little bit. Like I said, it's a new single white female. So this just to preface, McKnight has a more positive view of this movie than some of the other ones we've read so far. So McKnight says to call this, a single white millennial movie is low hanging fruit. There's more than a simple, there's more than that simple reductive comparison. And then McKnight compares the film to movies like unfriended, and smiley because they deal with the dark sides of social media. Except those are horror and Ingrid goes west isn't really a horror. It's really more of a deranged stalker story. And then it It delves into the themes of fame and celebrity authenticity, reality versus presentation, obsession and social media age and mental health. McKnight thinks that quote, "the film paints, a sharp portrait of fascination become infatuation, where it's all too easy to mistake a near anonymous like and a photo of someone's breakfast as legitimate connection." McKnight applauds Aubrey Plaza's performance because she's branching out from the sarcastic deadpan character she's known for. And then applauds O'Shea Jackson Jr. as well. And then ends the review with "relevant timely and uncomfortably close to home, Ingrid goes west delivers a quirky fun, brutally awkward," legitimately unsettling, legit "legitimately unsettling cautionary tale about influencer culture and social media obsession," end quote.
ryley 16:20
it's just a lot. There's a lot going on this movie where I'm like, I don't know if I can fully support it, even though like, I do think there's good moments in it. And it is a dark comedy. And there were there are some funny moments in it that are good. It's just like, I don't know that there's that over- there's that, you know, the elephant in the room and that movie that kind of just takes it takes away the good, like the good parts out of it, you know?
kat 16:45
Yeah. Because like, once, once you realize, you know, it's hard to read a review of this movie that's highlighting the good parts without, you know, without acknowledging the bad.
ryley 16:55
Exactly.
kat 16:56
And moving on to the next one. It's from RTE, and this is a review by Laura Delaney who gives it two out of five and this review is from 2017. Delaney believes that Spicer brings nothing new to the table in that he takes his expose of the narcissistic underworld of cultural trends in a questionable direction. Spicer does succeed when it comes to creating non preachy dialogue and stylish shots. But preying on mental illness for comedic effect is not good. They also acknowledge that Dan brings a warmth to the movie.
ryley 17:24
That's so sweet, I love how everyone's like but he's great in it. And that's it. That's the whole thing. Like there are good characters in this movie. And like,
kat 17:31
All the actors are great.
ryley 17:32
The actors are fantastic. Like they are not the movie but, yeah.
kat 17:37
It's the writing.
ryley 17:37
It's the writing. It's the story. It's yeah, but no, like that quote, right there were like they, you know, they're using they they're preying on or preying on mental illness and it's the butt of the joke. Yeah.
kat 17:50
Yeah. And then they also applaud that, they also say that plazas performance is strong, but she was let down by the script, and also that the script is not as smart as it thinks it is. And that quote, "there is nothing much worth seeing here," end quote.
ryley 18:06
That's fair. No, that's fair.
kat 18:09
It's the kind of movie that if you watch it as a teenager, you're like, Oh, my God, this is this is great. I love it.
ryley 18:14
Yeah.
kat 18:15
It's amazing. I love Aubrey Plaza, so I'm gonna love this movie.
ryley 18:18
Yeah.
kat 18:19
But like, you know, I the first time I watched it, I don't think I was, I might have been like, 19 or something. But like, you know, I enjoyed it. I just wasn't watching it through like, a critical lens at that point.
ryley 18:32
Oh, no, yeah.
kat 18:33
I wasn't picking up on what was wrong with it.
ryley 18:37
Well, it's stuff that you you learn and it's okay not to know, know that stuff at certain ages. And like, you know, you you end up learning about this stuff. And yeah, I totally understand that. I'm sure there's tons of movies where I was like, Oh, this is a good movie and then later on, like, Oh, no, this was just as a mistake.
kat 18:58
This was the most offensive garbage I've ever seen.
ryley 19:00
Exactly, exactly. What was I thinking?
kat 19:05
So this next review is from news.com.au. Got an Australian review in here, and it is titled dark and witty, Ingrid goes west is worth seeking out by Wen Li Ma from 2017. And it was given a four out of five.
ryley 19:20
Wow.
kat 19:22
And they start with the review off with quote, "life happens in front of you and not on a five inch screen." Shut up.
ryley 19:29
Yeah, that's to say like, this whole movie was like, show me how corny social media is. And you just ate that up here.
kat 19:36
Yeah, there was a there was another review, but it was like it got a little more like political about the movie and
ryley 19:43
Political?
kat 19:45
Yeah, exactly. And you know, I was I'll just I'll mention a little bit of what that review had to say before I move on.
ryley 19:51
Yeah cause how do you get politics out of this?
kat 19:54
It was bringing up the fact that like, people cannot like economically afford to be an influencer. So it's like harmful to promote the idea that like you can. I don't know, it was something like that it was from I didn't I should have known when the website was like socialist something. And you know, I am not against socialism. Okay. But it was like, I don't think that'll fit in what we're doing.
ryley 20:18
I don't know enough about that to talk about it. So
kat 20:22
Exactly, like I would just be saying it and we'd both just be nodding
ryley 20:25
and then I'd probably work be saying some stupid stuff that doesn't make any sense.
kat 20:30
We would be probably say something wrong.
ryley 20:31
Yeah, no kidding.
kat 20:32
We're not educated enough on economics, or like socialism to be
ryley 20:37
Talking about it.
kat 20:39
Like, criticize critiquing a review of this movie about it.
ryley 20:42
Exactly or saying something's wrong about talking about it.
kat 20:44
I don't know if you're wrong.
ryley 20:45
I don't know. I have no clue.
kat 20:48
I almost failed micro economics, okay.
ryley 20:51
It's like one of those things you read on the internet and people are mad about it. Or people are like cheering for it. I'm like, I don't I don't know, I don't understand any of them.
kat 21:00
I don't know why we're yelling, but.
ryley 21:01
Yeah, I'm just gonna skip it. Just go to stuff I know.
kat 21:05
I didn't see nothing.
ryley 21:06
I don't know enough about it.
kat 21:08
Okay, so back to this review by Wen li ma. Ma refers to the film as a fresh, disturbing and a single white female for the Instagram generation. They also note plaza's performance and that she is quote "sensationally selling the peculiar mix of Ingrid's intensity and vacantness, without pushing into melodrama," and calls, Ingrid goes west a quote, "chilling indictment of our image driven culture, a withering dissection of artificiality versus authenticity." So what I'm seeing from the positive reviews is they're taking the film at face value more.
ryley 21:41
Definitely.
kat 21:42
And like they're taking the message that it's promoting, rather than the quality of the film.
ryley 21:46
Exactly. And like, also how they're representing people, you know, and especially Ingrid's character with, yeah.
kat 21:56
Yeah, it's just an I, it's no offense to the people that wrote these reviews, they maybe they weren't going in with that intention to review it like that. Because, you know, different websites have different audiences that they're trying to talk to movies about exactly, so it's nothing against these people at all.
ryley 22:12
No, and it's, it might be just one of those things where, like, that's just not how they perceived it. I don't know.
kat 22:19
I can't argue with them on that.
ryley 22:21
I understand if that's you know, if that's the main that you were focusing on was the social media aspect, which is a big aspect of the film. And maybe they're just not, you know.
kat 22:29
yeah. Whether or not that message was conveyed well or not, is up to interpretation.
ryley 22:34
Yeah.
kat 22:35
Yeah. So moving on to the next review, from Buffalo vibe, by Jared Mobarak. From 2017. He gave it a five out of 10. They gave it
ryley 22:45
Right down the middle.
kat 22:46
out of 10.
ryley 22:46
Right down the middle.
kat 22:47
Brand new, brand new system.
ryley 22:51
A new one, I just love how many there are. There's so many.
kat 22:54
Because they're all on their own personal website, so they get to rate it however they want
ryley 22:58
It's just so funny.
kat 23:01
So Mubarak starts with the fact that the problem with the film is that quote, "Ingrid isn't just some unhinged narcissist to mock social media isn't merely a gimmick, it's her escape from tragedy," end quote. Yeah.
ryley 23:17
okay.
kat 23:18
It's a good way to- that's a good way to put it like they're not- they're saying that, like, Ingrid isn't just someone that you can just be putting as the main character for everyone just to mock and like social media isn't just this thing in the background. It's like how she's escaping from all this, like her mom's death and like, all these things that are going on in our head all the time.
ryley 23:38
Yeah. Yeah. Okay, that makes it clear. I wasn't sure what they were meaning by that.
kat 23:44
That's what I'm interpreting what they're saying, as that could be wrong. But that's, that's what I'm getting from it.
ryley 23:48
Yeah, that makes sense. Yeah.
kat 23:50
Yeah. And then they go on to say that Ingrid's actions are actually clear, a clear emotional and psychological cry for help. Filmmakers chose the loss of the true dramatic weight of her situation. Spicer never pulls the trigger on the social commentary he approaches in the film. Nikki's character seems unneeded by the end of the film, none of the characters are redeemable and then quote, "Ingrid goes west, thus fails to shed light on anything we don't inherently presume," end quote. They still highlight the fact that the actors performances were amazing.
ryley 24:22
Yeah.
kat 24:23
And then they describe the film as having hollow cynicism. So it's, you know, just surface level
ryley 24:29
Yeah, no, definitely.
kat 24:31
Not digging. It's just going Hey, social media is bad. Right?
ryley 24:35
Yeah.
kat 24:36
You guys get off your phone. The world's out here.
ryley 24:38
No, like they I think they they did have a pretty good point. Yeah, cuz the well they were saying about like Nikki's character being I hated that character so much and like, it kind of got wild there, and with like, she like kidnapped them and stuff like that. And they had to leave him in the desert. Like, it's like one of those things where like, I don't know if this needed to be- to happen this way, I don't know it's like a big saw how I thought the movie was gonna go and I didn't think-
kat 25:04
I feel like they could have used Ezra.
ryley 25:06
They could have used Ezra.
kat 25:07
As the one who like susses her out or whatever.
ryley 25:08
Yeah, exactly Or like
kat 25:10
Nikki was unneeded.
ryley 25:11
Yeah, Nikki was very unneeded. I didn't I didn't really-
kat 25:13
I think you could have just had Harley the other like,
ryley 25:17
Yeah, the friend.
kat 25:18
the big influencer like she could have just been like showing up somewhere like Taylor could have met her or something like, that's the only reason Nikki was there was to be the person who like
ryley 25:27
Divides them kind of.
kat 25:28
Divides them.
ryley 25:29
Which I think Harley could have done very easily.
kat 25:31
Yeah, she could have done it herself. Like it could have been her as the one that divides everything. But, you know, that actor did a great job. It's just that character didn't need to be in there.
ryley 25:40
Yeah, I agree with them on that part. That's, and this is just like, my like, my personal like, oh, this is how I would've done the movie, but like, that's just what I was thinking. When I was watching. I was like, I don't think we need this character. But yeah, yeah, I think they make good points.
kat 25:54
So the next review is the last critical review that we have. It is by Kate- is from Kate young.com. And is titled Ingrid goes west loses the plot. And this review is by Kate Young, and was written in 2019. And they give it a three out of five. Back to the fives. We have three that were out of five so there's sometimes
ryley 26:15
Yeah.
kat 26:15
So they started out the review with quote, "somewhere in the middle of the film loses the plot on being the witty commentary about communication, pretending and public image in the social media age, but it's still an entertaining romp from start to finish." Plaza's performance is entertaining, it slips perfectly into Mania. Young also uplifts Elizabeth Olsen, O'Shea Jackson, Jr. Billy Magnussen on their performances. And then they say that the film manages not to, quote "jump the shark by keeping Ingrid's antics on the right side of the line between truly deranged and terrifyingly criminal." And, quote, "it's not a movie that really knows what it's trying to say. But it's fun watching it try to figure it out."
ryley 26:55
I love like how people are going like the directors or the writers really lost their way at the movie. They don't-
kat 27:02
They didn't know what they were fucking do.
ryley 27:03
They they didn't, they didn't know what they had. And therefore it was very lost like they started out strong and just it kind of just dissolved.
kat 27:11
I think I saw like someone and one of the reviews, I don't think I wrote it down. But they mentioned something about how the director Matt Spicer kind of based it off of like how he feels with, like, his use of social media. But I don't know if it's to that level that Ingrid gets to but also I saw something mentioned about how it was specific, maybe I could be wrong. And just delete this from your brain if I am wrong. But I saw something about it being specifically about borderline personality disorder, which is a very marginalized kind of disorder. And like, you know, yeah.
ryley 27:51
It's like one of those things where like, it's really hard to write about accurately on it, if you don't have it.
kat 27:55
If you don't have it don't write about it.
ryley 27:56
That, or you, you do- you absolutely do your research you you absolutely, I don't know, just like
kat 28:02
Talk to people who have it.
ryley 28:03
talk to people who have it and you. I mean, you be you be as I mean,
kat 28:09
Either way, with r- with representations of things that like you do not like in a perfect world, the only people writing about movies about certain, like, marginalized groups or mental illnesses would be people who have them are part of them, because they're gonna know, they know exactly like their experience with it.
ryley 28:28
Exactly.
kat 28:30
You know, but whatever. It's, it's not a perfect world. And, you know, obviously Matt Spicer and the other writer, David Branson Smith, should have kept themselves out of the conversation. I don't know if either of them have borderline personality disorder.
ryley 28:44
I don't want to say it wasn't, I don't want to assume they don't if you know, or I don't know, if they do, it's just one of those things where like, it's so hard to write about, or in to or like to be respectful about it you know?
kat 28:59
also, I don't think there's a whole lot known in like the general public about borderline personality disorder. So that's another thing where it's like, you're gonna you're gonna piss off the people who have it. Yeah. And people who know anything about it, like, and you're giving people who don't know anything about it the false narrative of what exactly it is.
ryley 29:19
And that's so dangerous, especially how this like, how this movie ends.
kat 29:22
Or like a harmful narrative of what it is.
ryley 29:24
and how this movie ends. Like, it's, I mean, I can't, it can't, it's not good. It's like, yeah, it's not a great way to represent.
kat 29:32
We can move on now to the audience reviews. As always, we'll start with a high rating, a high ranked review. They're not always five star cuz you know some movies don't have good five star reviews. This movie exempt for example, they weren't very like long five star reviews. Like they were like a sentence like I liked this movie. I was like, Oh, well, thank you so much for your contribution. You've said so much about this movie. I believe you and I will watch it now.
ryley 29:59
They should be there. You should be a movie critic. It shouldn't they should start.
kat 30:02
It would, it would save us time.
ryley 30:07
That's funny.
kat 30:07
So this first review is from April of 2020. And they give it four stars. And they say that the, they say, "insanely troubling, funny and seldom times horrifying, Ingrid goes west shines a light on a less explored byproduct of social media in the digital age. The message conveyed here is impactful, inciting a range of emotions get a bit one dimensional in what it is trying to say. It plays out exactly as you'd think. And I'm indifferent about the ending, yet perfect casting and slick directing keeps the linear plot from ever truly getting stale."
ryley 30:42
They were, okay. They were- there were things that I did agree with. I don't know about that. Like that last little part I wouldn't quite agree with. But I think overall they were they were hitting the things that were
kat 30:58
Yeah, cuz it's not a it's not a god awful.
ryley 31:00
No, it's really not like, I was enjoying it, you know, up until a point, you know? Or like, yeah, just like just realizing like the issues with it, honestly.
kat 31:11
Yeah. And I you know, I don't think it's like, because there was a critical review in the past that said like, well, the the things with mental illness made the movie stale like that, like joking about her mental illness, using it as a punch line was stale. But you know, overall, it wasn't like a hard to watch like shitty movie or anything.
ryley 31:29
No, it had its it had its moments.
kat 31:31
They're right. They're right, in what they're saying they just, you know, they happen to not mention the mental health thing, but they do have problems with the ending. So, so we're there.
ryley 31:40
Yeah, we're there.
kat 31:43
So, a lot of the fives, like the high ranking reviews, they were kind of similar to that, that I could find, because it was like that. They know that there are problems with the movie. But they still found a way to enjoy it.
ryley 31:57
Yeah.
kat 31:58
So this next review is from July of 2020 and a half star review. "If you want to feel awkward and uncomfortable for the next hour and a half watch this movie. I was constantly waiting for something to happen for nothing to really happen.
ryley 32:11
Oh, well, that's not true. That's not-
kat 32:13
Yeah.
ryley 32:14
That's- stuff happens.
kat 32:15
There's a lot of- there's a lot of nothing.
ryley 32:17
There's a lot of nothing. I will agree with that. But like
kat 32:19
In the middle because they start out with like her macing the girl-
ryley 32:23
Yeah
kat 32:24
the other influencer at the wedding and then her mom dies, and then you know, so like, they start out with these big things. And then it kind of it kind of tapers out for a second and then it gets big again.
ryley 32:34
That's part of like, the slow burn of her becoming friends with Taylor.
kat 32:38
Yeah,
ryley 32:38
and then it-
kat 32:39
and then it unraveling.
ryley 32:40
and unraveling. I mean, that's, that is not gonna all happen at once. It's it is going to be slow during that time, but it's it's still interesting, you know? I don't know, I wouldn't I wouldn't agree that it's like nothing happens. But
kat 32:54
yeah, also, I'm gonna mention this before I move on to the rest of them. Some people in some of these reviews did not, do not- I don't think they they might not know the term dramedy.
ryley 33:06
Okay.
kat 33:07
Because they're like, this is not a comedy. It's a drama. And it's like, it's both, but okay.
ryley 33:12
Dark comedy is what it is.
kat 33:13
Yeah, it's a dark comedy.
ryley 33:15
I would call it a dark comedy and dark comedies usually have drama.
kat 33:19
Yeah, I've seen it referred to as a dramedy and a dark comedy. So like, either way, these terms work.
ryley 33:26
people act like Oh, to comedy, therefore, I should just be laughing the whole time. Like,
kat 33:30
yeah, there are a lot of heartfelt comedies, Skeleton twins is my favorite one.
ryley 33:35
That's a really good one. But like, that's the whole point is like, I mean, movies can be more than just, I mean, they can be more.
kat 33:42
It's like how you can mix genres and music.
ryley 33:44
Yeah. It's not a big deal. It's okay, that that happens.
kat 33:50
Yeah. Okay. Well, that's just something where I was like,
ryley 33:53
I don't think people know.
kat 33:54
Maybe either you didn't know the term or you saw, but it was labeled as comedy on one thing, because they probably physically could not label it as anything other than that.
ryley 34:01
Yeah.
kat 34:02
So you just chose to believe that it's only ever labeled as a comedy. But anyway, moving on. There's a one star review for May of 2020. And they say "the biggest issue this movie faced was the lack of focus, it was extremely dragged out and was missing the original idea, satire. The ending certainly didn't help since the satire didn't hold at any point. We're left with the idea that actually making a video of your own suicide attempt is fine. As long as it goes viral. There was also a complete lack of character development. What was Dan doing there? The man couldn't even walk because of her and was left abandoned at the hospital. And yet there he was by her side receiving her with the smile."
ryley 34:42
Literally the part I got confused at and that's probably the part where I'm like, this is I mean that's, no.
kat 34:49
"This movie isn't even passable as a Sunday afternoon movie. I honestly don't understand how it has such a high score." It's because people don't not everybody look super deep into movies. So some people just are like, I enjoyed it. Okay, five stars. That's how movies get high reviews. Okay?
ryley 35:06
I mean, they just liked it.
kat 35:08
also if they're starring indie darlings, and they're made by like, they were at Sundance, and they were mentioned they get to put the little Sundance thing on their stuff. People are just like, Oh, it must be a good movie.
ryley 35:17
Yeah. And exactly, I think they I think they did make good points, because they're, I mean, they literally said like, the issues at the end.
kat 35:28
They they really got to it
ryley 35:30
They got in there.
kat 35:31
I do think I do think that was I- when they mentioned the- thing they mentioned about satire. I do think that that was an issue.
ryley 35:38
Yeah.
kat 35:38
Where like it. It. It kind of sold itself as satirical and then didn't keep up the satire.
ryley 35:45
No, because then it then it just became almost like a thriller or horror.
kat 35:51
Yeah.
ryley 35:52
And the fact that she's, oh, she's unhinged now or something like that.
kat 35:56
But like, there's like setups where like, they took things that were that would be like, thriller.
ryley 36:02
Yeah, sure.
kat 36:03
And tried to make them funny.
ryley 36:05
Yeah, it's like,
kat 36:06
And that's part of the problem with their portrayal of mental health where it's like, she's obviously spiraling right now. And like having a really bad time. And you turned that into haha, she's making a fool of herself at a party.
ryley 36:21
Yeah. And it's like, like, it's like bad taste. It's just bad taste. And also, it's just messy too. Because, yes, yeah. You start off with satire, and then end on a comedy thriller kind of thing. It's very, it's it's messy. It's all over the place. Really.
kat 36:40
It's a- they try to turn into like it. I don't think they intentionally tried to turn it into a thriller, but they took thriller elements and made them funny. And they failed at both genres.
ryley 36:48
Yeah. I agree.
kat 36:50
This next review is a one out of 10 from 2018. And this one's from IMDB. So it has a title. And it is titled suicide turns out to be a good thing. Question mark. Question mark. Question mark. They go, "are you kidding? Question mark, question mark."
ryley 37:05
Okay.
kat 37:05
"Don't you know, don't you know how many people are like this crazy girl? What is the message," attempt to "attempt suicide and post a video about it? It can get you viral and you can get famous question mark, question mark, question mark. This movie is full of shit and was bearable till the end. And at the end, it became annoyingly stupid." Fair enough.
ryley 37:25
That's fair. I mean, fair enough dude.
kat 37:27
Fair enough
ryley 37:29
Fair enough, dude.
kat 37:29
All right, fair enough.
ryley 37:31
But I mean, honestly, I don't I don't have any critiques about that. I- I actually really agree with them, except for all the question marks they didn't need to put that many question marks just one is good.
kat 37:40
I get your you were probably a very angry writing this.
ryley 37:43
I understand. I understand.
kat 37:44
I understand I, I we all agree with you here. Glorifying suicide is a bad thing. No one like. we agree. It's okay. Put the question marks down.
ryley 37:55
Yeah. One or two is fine.
kat 37:59
Both hands up, put the question marks down. The next review is a half star review from 2021. And it's it. It goes. "This movie missed the mark. Sometimes funny. I enjoyed the tongue in cheek commentary about social media darlings and how their lives aren't as perfect as they make them seem. But this was completely ruined by the ending of the movie. Mental illness is not a punch line. Suicide should not be glamorized and the fact that Ingrid gets everything she hopes for by a failed suicide attempt just feels exploitative. I heard in an interview that the director wrote Ingrid based on her having borderline personality disorder and" this is the kind of portrayal "this kind of portrayal is why a lot of people with BPD don't get real help, movies like this just perpetuate stigma." And that's what I was hinting.
Yeah,
This is where I this is where I saw them the borderline personality disorder stuff I mean, that was like yeah, they're stigmatizing it.
ryley 38:52
I mean, yeah, they said it all I mean, really, I mean, honestly, they that was kind of
kat 38:58
These are some of the most like like what did=
ryley 39:03
on the nose?
kat 39:05
On the nose?
ryley 39:06
Hammer hammer on the nail.
kat 39:07
hammer on the nail?
ryley 39:09
I don't know if that's what it said.
kat 39:10
I was trying to figure out like
ryley 39:12
Right on the hammer.
kat 39:13
Hit the nail right on the head. That's what it is.
ryley 39:14
oh.
kat 39:15
Hit the nail right on the head. You know, a lot of these reviews fully encapsulate like the fact that it was enjoyable but the ending makes a lot of people go well What the What the Fuck
ryley 39:26
no, yeah, definitely like because that's the thing like I that's what I think that's why I said the beginning is like I liked it at first and then it just kind of lost itself a lot. And the more that we're talking about it the more because like I knew there was like oh, it's off I don't know how to put it in words. And now after reading these like now I now I know how to put it in words like why there's a lot of issues with this movie. And I think I think that one was like just a perfect example of what is wrong with the movie.
kat 39:54
We quickly are going to take a little left turn and a break into full on just hatred of the movie.
ryley 40:02
Like it, the more we read about them the more people are being able to issues it's like oh yeah, of course not to say that.
kat 40:08
I mean like I mean like the next review
ryley 40:10
Oh, okay.
kat 40:11
Takes takes a quick left.
ryley 40:12
Yeah. Okay. I love those
kat 40:14
into full on hatred.
ryley 40:15
I love those. Absolutely
kat 40:16
Okay, so they this is another IMDb one so so one out of 10 from 2019 and it is titled when white women decisivery at its finest.
ryley 40:28
What is necessary mean before we get into it?
Decisivery. Hold on Yeah, I was like am I ever gonna say this word clearly? It's not a word. They made up a fucking
They made up a word. I love it.
kat 40:41
Okay, so I maybe they went divisive. Maybe it's divisive. I don't know. Either way they they? They don't like this movie is the point. So "headline says it all" I wish I knew what you meant.
ryley 40:53
I'm sorry. headlines that Okay, okay.
kat 40:56
They start the review with headlines says it all like I knew what the fuck that word means.
ryley 40:59
Yeah. I don't know what they were trying to say.
kat 41:04
If anyone knows that word, and we're just stupid and Google's wrong.
ryley 41:07
Yeah.
kat 41:07
Let me know. Okay, so they go on to say "basic millennial bullshit written and directed by talentless millennials. Waste of time." New Age White, "New Age Single white female want to be such great actors, but not worth the watch. They shouldn't have signed on to such a film. Also it is miscategorized as comedy, but fully drama." No, no, the fuck it is not. That's what I was talking about.
ryley 41:29
Yeah.
kat 41:30
It is not miscategorized as comedy. It is categorized as both comedy and drama.
ryley 41:34
I love how they didn't mention any- like they hate this movie, but not for any of the reasons
kat 41:39
They just hate fucking millennials.
They just - It sounds like a boomer or someone
This is either a very angry Gen Z Yeah, very angry Boomer or Gen Xers like fuck everything.
ryley 41:50
Well, I just I just love how it's their way on even the issues that are in the movie. It's just like, I hate young people. I hate 30 year olds.
kat 41:59
Well, they called it they call it basic. So I'm feeling like they might be younger than a millennial and be like, Oh, this is so cheugy. Yeah, cheugy movie, but I also the term cheugy wasn't a thing yet.
ryley 42:09
Wait, let's order actually never heard that word before. What is it?
kat 42:12
You've never heard cheugy? it's kind of like, it's shitty. And it's very, like, you know, it's the kind of thing that now if you called something cheugy people would be like, just let people like things.
ryley 42:22
Oh, okay.
kat 42:23
You know, like, it's like, this is very basic and like millennial,
ryley 42:27
okay, I hate people like that.
kat 42:29
Yes. So that was like a little bit like, it's one of those things on like, TikTok things where it's like, people run with it and then someone points it out and everyone's like, Oh, you were using that word?
ryley 42:39
How dare you?
kat 42:41
What the fuck is wrong with you? You hate women
ryley 42:43
You hate. It ccomes back to misogyny.
kat 42:46
Yes, it all comes back to misogyny because honestly, the word cheugy is rooted in like, oh, well when girls like things they're stupid.
ryley 42:54
Yeah, well, it's the whole like, Oh, you- You're a basic bitch if you like this, and it's like, it's like well, people like Starbucks. I mean, there are so many dumb things as well just let me have my Starbucks. It's not it's not a big deal but it's like that. It's like I just love that review. That review just makes me laugh so hard. Because like I don't know, I just don't understand.
kat 43:13
Yeah, it's that's why I think it's a younger person because or like an another millennial, where they're just like, they hate all other millennials because they're not like other millennials. I'm not like other millennials. They're a pick me millennial.
ryley 43:26
They're Yeah, pick me millennial. I hate it. I hate I hate that review. It makes me angry.
kat 43:33
Yeah, it's just, you know, they just seem like, you know, they seem like someone who is a millennial or a Gen Z to me. Personall.
ryley 43:40
I have Gen Z vibes with it. Because like, I don't think or no no what's, what are our parents?
kat 43:48
Gen X.
ryley 43:50
Gen X, okay. It's gonna be Gen X vibes. Gen.
kat 43:53
They learn the word basic. And they were like, anything. I don't like it.
ryley 43:56
They heard well, because I've never heard a Gen Z complain about millennials like that.
kat 44:04
The younger kind of do.
ryley 44:05
I don't know. It's given me. They do? That's why- we're not Millennials are we?
kat 44:09
The teen ones because you know, we hated so much. No, we're Gen Z.
ryley 44:13
We are Gen Z, okay.
kat 44:15
Yeah, but we hated so much shit that we don't hate now. It's just like, there's so much stuff we're like, that's basic. I'm not doing that. You know? So that's where I'm getting like, like, maybe this is a teenager.
ryley 44:26
Oh, okay. Yeah, I can see that. I can see that.
kat 44:30
Yeah, it's either a full grown adult or a teenager.
ryley 44:35
Either a 40-45 year old with children or it's it's a Gen Z
kat 44:39
17 year old.
ryley 44:40
Yeah. Exactly. It's, yeah.
kat 44:45
that's where the like, this. Also the thing about like, oh, it's not a comedy. It's a drama. It's like no, dude, it's both.
ryley 44:52
It can be both. It's not a big deal. There's been plenty of them. There's literally plenty of them.
kat 44:59
like okay, but yeah, that's the left turn into nothing that we were talking.
ryley 45:04
Yeah, no, like, yeah no.
kat 45:06
like that. Because it's and then this next one is a one and a half star review from 2020. And I want to preface this because you won't get the full effect of this review if I don't tell you this, okay? They spell Instagram and all caps both times that they use the word Instagram and they put two M's on the end instead of one. Just had to paint that picture.
I don't understand that.
Me neither. But that's just how they saw this film. I guess. So that's, that is just wanted to paint the picture of what this looks like. Okay, as I'm reading it,
ryley 45:37
I'm glad you told me that.
kat 45:39
Yeah, it's weird, right?
ryley 45:40
It's very weird. I don't understand why they would do that
kat 45:43
because they do it twice.
ryley 45:44
That's not how it works, though. Like it's so
kat 45:46
it's not like a typo.
ryley 45:47
No, like, no one's ever made that mistake before. The only thing is, maybe their keyboards broken or something. It's just double M every time.
kat 45:56
There's other M's in there though. Nothing else. So like maybe it's like a joke or something that we're not getting, but
ryley 46:03
I don't get it right, left out of the loop. I have no clue.
kat 46:07
But just imagine all caps double em every time
ryley 46:11
Alright
kat 46:12
Okay. So, "some people no longer realize," where the real, "where the world is real and where virtual, and literally do not crawl out of their Instagram," all caps, two M's, "who flaunt flaunts his life imitating luxury and chic life full of money, beauty, beautiful food, delicious clothing, beautiful travel parties, noisy companies and friends. Others on the other hand, observe such persons and Instagram, envious of their lives and wanting to be like such people living the same life not knowing the other side of this life. The heroine of the film was such an observer but it did not lead to anything good. Probably you just need to communicate and applications like utopia p2p, which do not require any personal data." Ooh, this sounds like somebody who is a q anon member. What THE FUCK IS utopia p2p?
ryley 47:05
I don't know what that is.
kat 47:07
Utopia p2p ecosystem. Utopia is freedom anonymity and censorship free driven product design for secure communication, anonymous payments and truly free internet. This sounds like an Q anon creation. Or like, I don't know if this is from a different country. But if this was an American thing, this is 100% Q anon shit.
ryley 47:29
Yeah, I don't. I'm really confused. I have no clue. I Are they just angry about what the story?`Are they just hating on the internet?
kat 47:38
they hate that the internet takes your data that seems like what the fuck it is.
ryley 47:42
That's not what this movie is about. What are they complaining about?
kat 47:45
they completely just like so they were like, you know, they have like, you know, you don't always know what people are. I think what they're trying to say is like you're envious of these people who like, like these nice things and show themselves with these nice things but like you don't know what their lives really like. But then they said it's-you should use utopia p2p because it doesn't steal your data. What the fuck?
ryley 48:05
Thats out of left field. Okay, well, that's not what oh my god, like. So basically, they were just agreeing what the movie was saying that social media isn't real. Nothing is real on the internet, which is very true. And then, and then just really went off the rails
kat 48:22
a utopia like naming it utopia.
ryley 48:24
I mean, that just sound
kat 48:25
It sounds. I don't know. It sounds racist. It just fucking does. It sounds like white supremacy.
ryley 48:32
It sounds conservative and to whatever capacity like I don't I don't know. I don't know what to think.
kat 48:39
I just thought it was funny how you spelled Instagram. I didn't read the review all the way.
ryley 48:43
Which was I'm so glad you did though. Because this is a hilarious
kat 48:49
We just stumbled upon something. I'm sure other people are aware that this exists.
ryley 48:54
I'm sure they do.
kat 48:54
We are not breaking ground.
ryley 48:56
No, I mean, it's public on there we're just reading rotten tomato reviews. I mean, for Ingrid goes west a 2017 movie.
kat 49:03
Get on to Gven who wrote this?
ryley 49:06
Yeah, about go find it. Go look at it right there.
kat 49:09
Okay, I'm just figuring out what the fuck this is. I am making an observation.
ryley 49:13
Exactly, exactly.
kat 49:14
Sorry I'm not doing it on an unencrypted server.
ryley 49:17
Yeah, I wouldn't Oh God. That's That's so weird that's on there, for this movie, like I just find that so odd.
kat 49:28
All right. Well, we're moving on to that because I could go I could keep looking.
ryley 49:31
Yeah.
kat 49:32
The next review is an IMDb review it's a one and a 10 star review from 2019 and just titled it shoots it misses. "Movies like this bother me the most because it didn't start out being absolute dribble. It just decided to become dribble in the last 10 minutes. This person never would have left the psych ward while writing to the individual that they assaulted while being admitted. Waste of time." I think they're referring to the beginning.
ryley 49:59
Yeah.
kat 50:00
They're like, I don't think they're actually texting this person. I think they were just writing.
ryley 50:05
Yeah, they're just like writing a letter. And I doubt they ever
kat 50:08
Oh, they didn't say texting. They just said writing to the individual.
ryley 50:10
Yeah. which I don't
kat 50:12
I think they're just like, writing letters to her whatever.
ryley 50:14
I think it's just yeah, it's like, I don't think she's actually sending them. Because I feel like they would let us know. She was I think, I think it's just like, another way for her to narrate. Like, just I don't know, just a way to show.
kat 50:30
Yes. Yeah. I think it's just a narration device.
ryley 50:36
Yeah.
kat 50:38
But yeah, you know, if if anyone in the mental hospital that she was in had caught wind, that that's what she was doing. Like she was writing letters to the person that she had pepper sprayed, or maced. I don't know which one it was. I feel like they might have a problem with that. But I don't know. I don't know. It's a fictional movie. If she had stayed in there, there would be no movie.
ryley 51:01
Exactly. Yeah.
kat 51:04
Alright. So this next review is a one star review for 2018. It's long. So here we go. The movie is, "this movie is so unbelievably frustrating. Not only is the protagonist extremely difficult to relate to, but the so called punch lines are completely unfunny. The topic of mental illness is very touchy for many people, and I don't feel the subject matter of this film was well handled at all. Ingrid embodies the stereotype for anyone ever deemed insane" in quotes, "and the suicide scene at the end was A. completely predictable, B. totally unnecessary. People went insane over 13 reasons why for glorifying suicide, and nobody seems to see the same problem here. The ending made no sense in the context of the film. And though it's supposedly helpful" in quotes, "portraying Ingrid's friend as the Savior," in quotes "at the end was complete BS. Think about all the teens who would potentially be struggling with similar issues in this age of social media, and struggle with problems similar to Ingrid's. The film was wrapped up incredibly poorly. And" it could be so easily, it could be sorry, "it could be so easy to interpret the message of the film as supportive of suicide. Since the" cinema, cinema, "cinematographic elements of the scene were beautiful. I was able," I don't think that's why it would be misinterpreted.
ryley 52:30
No, that's not at all. Why we It doesn't
kat 52:33
Anyway.
ryley 52:34
Yeah.
kat 52:35
I mean, that could be you know, a device to where they're glorifying it. Anyway, "I was able to tell that it was satire, but for many other teenagers who are not as well read," okay, this is a teenager. "The message could be easily misconstrued. Suicide is a nasty thing and should be represented as such in media absolutely disgusting."
ryley 52:53
Even though this person is a teenager, I think they made some good points or some things they made.
kat 52:57
They made great points.
ryley 52:58
They made some good points in it.
kat 52:59
They were very, like you're eloquent and what they were saying. It was, this was 2018. They could literally be our age now.
ryley 53:05
Yeah, honestly.
kat 53:07
They could be like an 18 year old. Yeah, technically could still be a teen.
ryley 53:10
Yeah.
kat 53:10
But you know, they. Yeah, they think they had very good points. I don't, I don't really see the suicide thing as predictable, personally.
ryley 53:21
I didn't think it was predictable. Yeah, I didn't see that. You know,I didn't know the outcome of it coming.
kat 53:28
Yeah. They know the science better than we do. I guess. Maybe they just they are well read.
ryley 53:33
They are.
kat 53:33
That's not me. That's not me making fun of them. I'm just saying that they you know, maybe they do know. Maybe they do know.
ryley 53:40
Maybe. I don't know. I did. I think they made some good points with that.
kat 53:46
Yes. I think I think it was a very well written. 13 reasons why definitely triggered me as a teenager so I get what they're saying here. And I do think that like,
ryley 53:55
Oh, one other point you made that was like, oh, yeah, that's a good point.
kat 53:58
Yeah, it's it's, it's a terrible glorification of suicide. And like, you know, the message that suicide gets you the attention you want, you know, and the revenge you want, or whatever, whatever your life goal is, it's suicides the answer?
ryley 54:12
Yeah. No, it's not no, don't do it
kat 54:14
ANY teenagers listening.
ryley 54:16
Don't do it.
kat 54:17
And that's probably not very helpful.
ryley 54:18
It's not. It sounds like: If you just go for a walk
kat 54:23
You know, a little bit of exercise could actually really whole exercise will help. Get me out of bed first, Karen.
ryley 54:27
Your fruit and veggies you need some fruit veggies.
kat 54:30
Just drink more water.
ryley 54:32
You need vitamin D, take some vitamin D,
kat 54:34
Go outside. But seriously, don't
ryley 54:38
I feel like we should just give the number to the like the hotline.
kat 54:40
Yeah, you know, in the in the description of this episode, we'll have the number for the National Suicide Hotline line for the US. We'll see if we can find other countries maybe and put those in there. So yeah, we'll do that because this, this film, fumbled it so.
ryley 54:57
it's gonna be it's rough.
kat 54:59
Pick up where it fucked up.
ryley 55:00
Yeah, exactly.
kat 55:01
Okay. So this is the second to last review. This is the last bad review, and then we'll have a good review. And then that's all. Okay. So, first, the second the next review is a one star review from 2017. So a lot of these were from like 2020 2018 2019, kind of. So it's just interesting to hear people's opinions of it like around when it came out. So, "now I truly have my doubts about the review process. I do not know how this film even got made. The script is banal. The satire on social media is unoriginal, and better done in so many other TV shows and films. The devices used to demonstrate obsession fall flat and are quite juvenile. Admittedly, O'Shea Jackson Jr. provides the only saving feature of this terrible film. Don't bother."
ryley 55:49
I love. I love that so much that they were, he so
kat 55:53
He did an amazing job. I think he's great in it.
ryley 55:55
He was fun. So funny, because he's always like, vaping He does it so angrily I really like it. You can see that at him. Like yeah, it is you actually it's you and ice cube.
kat 56:05
Literally Vaping
ryley 56:07
but um, he did he like when he does that. I like you can see his dad in him. It's like so funny. Yeah.
kat 56:13
He also just like, he just he does a great job. I think
ryley 56:17
he's a great actor.
kat 56:18
He deserves to be and more things
ryley 56:20
I do. I want to see him more.
kat 56:21
Obviously he did. You know, he did a great job with Straight Outta Compton, too. it's just like, you know, I think he you know, he did a great job. And I don't like I'm glad that even though people didn't like this movie, they go out of their ways.
ryley 56:33
He's the shining star in this really?
kat 56:35
Yeah. Because I feel like a lot of people went into this movie for Aubrey Plaza and left like, you know for him?
ryley 56:42
This is nice.
kat 56:42
Yeah. Okay, so this is a four and a half star review. Because as I said earlier, none of the five star reviews were worth shit. Yeah. This is from 2017. "Ingrid goes west, is an amazing indie dramedy. Which goes through a variety of emotional states, leaving me amused at first, then ashamed and then even disturbed. It is an excellent cringe comedy, which is frequently hilarious, and it's very uncomfortable, awkward social interactions. But" it is also a phenomenon. "It is also phenomenal as a drama, with many excellent entry level observations about humanity. Instagram stars here are portrayed as shallow, boring attention seekers. And not only in social media, but also in real life. People are constantly acting, pretending and lying around other people. And the film portrayed that painfully but accurately, this is basically how I feel about most people. So I related with it tremendously." So I you know, I would I, most of the time, the people writing bad reviews on here are the cynics. I just did not expect a cynic to write the one positive review. that did not critique the movie.
ryley 57:55
Yeah.
kat 57:55
in a negative way.
ryley 57:57
Yeah, it's an interesting review
kat 58:00
I hate people. So I loved it.
ryley 58:03
I like this movie. Yeah, they kind of they saw it from a kind of different perspective, I think. And I don't think they were necessarily wrong. In some of those points.
kat 58:14
Yeah. They had their points stand.
ryley 58:17
Yeah, there's some things.
They just didn't critique the things that we found.
Exactly. And that's, that's the thing with most of these positive reviews, is that they're
kat 58:28
they kind of they weren't looking for those kind of,
ryley 58:31
yeah, they didn't want to shut it down.
kat 58:32
Or didn't pick up on them.
ryley 58:33
Yeah, maybe they didn't pick up on them
kat 58:35
like, with, like, we said, what the critic reviews of like, the positive ones, maybe they didn't want to write it in a negative light. Maybe they didn't want to write about mental illness because maybe they don't know enough about it to write about it, which is entirely fair. But this is an audience review. So it's like, they just watched the movie and saw it as this instead of what we saw it as, especially with like, this was the one of the only ones except for like a few of the negative ones that focused on other things. To not bring up the ending and how they felt about it.
ryley 59:11
Yeah, they kind of they just didn't.
I feel like they didn't finish the movie.
Yeah. Which, yeah.
kat 59:20
it kind of do you remember the movie? I don't know if you ever saw this movie. cyberbully
ryley 59:26
*gasp* Yes. Wait, is it like, I don't remember her name.
Emily Osment
Yes, from Hannah Montana
kat 59:31
Yes. She like live streams on Facebook, or whatever their version of Facebook is and is like, going to kill herself while live streaming.
ryley 59:40
Okay, it's been a long time. Since I've seen that movie.
kat 59:43
Or she's not live streaming. She like takes a video and that's like her note, or whatever. And then like, but she's live streaming it because her friend watches it and rushes over to the house. I don't. I don't know. But it reminds me of that
ryley 59:52
Yes. Well, yeah, it sounds like it.
kat 59:55
I'm not laughing. I'm not laughing at the fact that she did it. It's just listen, if you You go back, if you go back and just watch that scene, you're gonna tell me you're not going to chuckle a little bit at the acting in that scene.
ryley 1:00:05
Yeah, because I can't imagine it-it's good.
kat 1:00:09
Terrible every time.
ryley 1:00:11
Yeah.
kat 1:00:12
But anyway, what are your final thoughts on this film?
ryley 1:00:17
Um, it's one of those things where like, this happens every time we come on here. And talking about movies, like, the more we talk about it, I'll either like, either my opinion stays the same. Or maybe I think differently about the city. And I don't know what this one I didn't is like, one of the things I watched and I was like, I don't I don't really know how to think about this. I know there's something some issues with this movie, you know, and I still liked it. There was one review saying like, it's it, it starts starts out strong, good until the end. And that's kind of like what I like, I can't agree with that. They just really they just fumbled on it or even like, even know what they had to begin with. So I I'm- out of five, right?
kat 1:01:06
Yeah, go ahead.
ryley 1:01:07
Just because of how it ends, just how there's like really like, how it glorifies some things and how it really like, misrepresents a lot of people, you know, like maybe two out of five, because you know, every go strong, but it?
kat 1:01:22
I would say that it's kind of seems like the writers started a conversation like they were trying to start a discussion about something, but they had no idea what they're talking
ryley 1:01:32
No.
kat 1:01:33
Like, they were like, oh, yeah, yeah, well, let's, let's like, if we were like, Let's go have a discussion about the economy with a bunch of economists.
ryley 1:01:40
Yeah.
kat 1:01:41
And then just kind of sat there and threw out buzzwords the entire time.
ryley 1:01:46
It's like, if you have me try to make a movie about the economy.
kat 1:01:50
Yeah, exactly. And so it just is this, like, at the very, very surface level, if you don't look past anything, but the main idea of the plot, it's a good idea. And there were a lot of reviews that were saying things like they aren't bringing anything new to the table, they aren't going deep enough into this thing that they're trying to talk about. And like I agree with that, it's like they, in their attempt to do it, they managed to not make an actual point with what they started with. And also just create a terrible portrayal of mental health and glorify suicide in the process. So it's, I think, I would also agree like two out of five if you want to watch this movie for a very surface level view of like, social media bad people fake sometimes, like, sure, sure. Like if you're if you're wanting to get one of those like, oh, I need to I need to delete Instagram for a little bit. And just take a social media break. Sure, go ahead. But just, you know, at its core, it it didn't know what it was talking about. It tiptoed into things that it shouldn't have. Overall like looking at it now. And obviously people who watched it then saw it, it just it has a lot of issues that like aren't redeemable like they don't redeem the plot because the plot is not there.
ryley 1:03:13
Yeah, exactly.
kat 1:03:15
So take what you've heard. Watch the movie if you want based off of what we've had to say. The critics have had to say what the audience members have had to say. But you watch for yourself you see if you agree with anything that all of us have said. And you know, just enjoy.
ryley 1:03:33
Yeah,
kat 1:03:33
and thank you for watching. This has been Easy Bake Oven. I'm Kat
ryley 1:03:37
And I'm Ryley
kat 1:03:39
and easy watching out there.