Written And Directed by Michael Mohan
Thomas (re Seb/Julia): "I wanna become their friends."
Pippa: "You want to become BFFs with the neighbours we now seem to be stalking?"
Anyone call for a voyeuristic version of Rear Window? That's exactly what this movie will offer you, while posing the question about whether or not it's a good idea to spy on your neighbours. Spoiler alert, it's not as two couples found that out the hard way.
The first couple in question being optometrist Pippa (Sydney Sweeney) and her tech savvy boyfriend, Thomas (Justice Smith). They've moved into a nice apartment where the latter liked to feed the birds and oh, yes, spy on the couple across from them.
Couple number two included photographer Seb (Ben Hardy) and his former model wife, Julia (Natasha Liu Bordizzo). Pippa and Thomas took far too much interest in their neighbours antics (including Seb's sleazy bed hopping) to the point where they gatecrashed the couple's Halloween party to put spy equipment so they could hear their conversations.
Making matters even more complicated was Julia befriending Pippa by going to the latter's place of work for new glasses while Thomas realised that they were doing the wrong thing. Of course it was a case of too little too late when Pippa thought she might have caused Julia's death and Thomas ended up dumping her.
Now where I think the movie got a lot more interesting wasn't just with Thomas's death but more the fact that Seb and Julia had been playing something of a long con on Pippa and Thomas. Seb not only seduced and photographed Pippa but both him and Julia made Pippa and Thomas into their latest exhibition. Oh and one of them clearly killed Thomas for dramatic effect.
The ending I think really helped this movie just about land. There was something satisfying in seeing Pippa play both Seb and Julia at their own game. Also satisfying was how she used their own voyeuristic tendencies against and took away the very thing they had taken for granted. As a twist, I found it worked well.
- Before learning their names, Pippa and Thomas kept referring to Seb and Julia as Brent and Margot.
- Sydney Sweeney and writer/director Michael Mohan worked together on short lived Netflix series Everything Sucks and after this movie on the horror feature, Immaculate.
- Standout music: Angel Olsen's Eyes Without A Face and Kamasi Washington's Desire.
- Chronology: Present day Montréal, Canada where the movie was also made.
For an Amazon origin, this wasn't too shabby. The Voyeurs posed the consequences of spying on your neighbours and also had an erotic thriller aspect to, which mostly worked. Not a classic take on the genre but certainly a good viewing nonetheless.
Rating: 6 out of 10
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