Alicia Silverstone, Britne Oldford, Catherine Curtin, drama, Justin Kelly, Karl Glusman, Kyle Bary, movies, Pretty Thing, reviews, Tammy Blanchard
July 10, 2025
by Carla Hay
Directed by Justin Kelly
Culture Representation: Taking place in New York City (and briefly in Paris), the dramatic film “Pretty Thing” features a predominantly white cast of characters (with a few Latin people and black people) representing the working-class and middle-class.
Culture Clash: A 33-year-old restaurant server begins a steamy affair with an upper-middle-class businesswoman in her 40s, but when she wants to end their fling, he refuses and begins to stalk her.
Culture Audience: “Pretty Thing” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners and superficial movies about romantic entanglements that turn into dark obsessions.
Even though the drama “Pretty Thing” has committed performances, the main characters are underdeveloped and the story seems unfinished. This shallow movie does nothing new in an over-used plot about an obsessed lover who refuses to accept a breakup. “Pretty Thing” is a mildly sexually explicit version of a Lifetime movie.
Directed by Justin Kelly and written by Jack Donnelly, “Pretty Thing” takes place primarily n New York City and briefly in Paris. (The movie was actually filmed in New Jersey.) “Pretty Thing” begins with showing how the two lovers at the center of the story meet. Elliot (played by Karl Glusman) is a shy 33-year-old server who works at a hotel restaurant/bar, where a business cocktail party is taking place. Sophie (played by Alicia Silverstone), who is in her late 40s, is a confident businesswoman who is at the party.
Elliot catches the eye of Sophie, who looks like she wants to devour Elliot as her next meal. Elliot notices Sophie ogling him, and he likes what he sees too. When Elliot is on a break and smoking a marijuana joint in the back alley of the restaurant, Sophie suddenly shows up. They share the joint. And she gets straight to the point when she says,”Hi. I’m in Room 706.”
Elliot nervously shows up at her hotel room with a bottle of champagne that he stole from the restaurant. They make small talk. Sophie asks Elliot what his age is and is surprised that he’s 33, because she thought he was younger. Elliot asks Sophie if she’s visiting and is surprised to find out that she lives in New York City but is just renting the hotel room to have a temporary break from her regular life.
The inevitable happens. It’s the beginning of a torrid sexual affair. The second time that they meet up, they have dinner first, and Sophie plays coy when Elliot asks her if she’s married or has kids. She finally admits that she’s not married and does not have any children. After some initial reluctance, Sophie also tells Elliot what she does as a job: She’s a partner in a pharmaceutical firm, where she’s a marketing executive.
Elliot, who lives in an apartment, isn’t exactly forthcoming about everything in his life either. He doesn’t tell Sophie that he lives with his overprotective and emotionally needy mother Peggy (played by Catherine Curtin), who has some health issues, including agoraphobia. Elliot spent the night with Sophie for their first sexual encounter, but he lies to Peggy by denying it when she asks him if she’s dating anyone.
The third time that Elliot and Sophie hang out together, she invites him to stay with her for the weekend in Paris, where she is on a short business trip. Elliot, who is unsophisticated and unaccustomed to traveling, is flown to Paris on a private plane. Sophie pays for everything, including a camera that she gives to Elliot as a gift when she finds out that college dropout Elliot has a passion for photography.
Elliot, who acts like a teenager in love, thinks this trip to Paris is an indication that Sophie sees him as more than a fling. He’s about to find out that he’s very wrong about that assumption. “Pretty Thing” ambles along with more sexual hookups between Elliot and Sophie. The cinematography is dreamy, but the movie (including any attempt at being erotic) is really just style over substance.
The turning point for Sophie is when Elliot takes her to see his friend Sam (played by Britne Oldford) perform in an off-Broadway play. After the play, Elliot introduces Sophie to Sam and Sam’s boyfriend Dan (played Kyle Bary), and they all have a conversation that is friendly but very uncomfortable for Sophie. It’s not just because of the generation gap between Sophie and the others but it’s also because Sophie sees how deeply Elliot has fallen for her. You can easily figure out the rest of how “Pretty Thing” is going to go after Sophie breaks up with Elliot, and he becomes obsessive about getting back together with her.
In addition to “Pretty Thing” having an abrupt and disappointing ending, one of the biggest problems with the movie is that is barely tells who Elliott and Sophie are outside of this toxic relationship. In a scene where Sophie has dinner with her nosy sister Amanda (played by Tammy Blanchard), it’s unsurprisingly revealed that Sophie is addicted to having flings with younger men. The scenes with Elliot and Peggy show that he is a mama’s boy who has mental health issues. This type of story has been done so many times before (and much better) in other movies. “Pretty Thing” might as well have been called “Pretty Boring.”
Shout! Studios released “Pretty Thing” in select U.S. cinemas, on digital and VOD on July 4, 2025.