Review: ‘Next Exit,’ starring Katie Parker, Rahul Kohli, Rose McIver, Tongayi Chirisa, Tim Griffin, Diva Zappa, Nico Evers-Swindell and Karen Gillan

February 16, 2023

by Carla Hay

Rahul Kohli and Katie Parker in “Next Exit” (Photo courtesy of Magnet Releasing)

“Next Exit”

Directed by Mali Elfman

Culture Representation: Taking place in various parts of the United States, the comedy/drama film “Next Exit” features a predominantly white cast of characters (with a few African Americans, Latinos and Asians) representing the working-class and middle-class.

Culture Clash: A woman and a man in their 30s, who want to become euthanasia volunteers for a controversial scientist, end up sharing a car for a road trip from New York City to San Francisco, and they bicker and develop a romantic attraction to each other along the way. 

Culture Audience: “Next Exit” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of road trip movies that have an “opposites attract” premise for the travelers in a story that can be flawed but entertaining.

Rahul Kohli and Katie Parker in “Next Exit” (Photo courtesy of Magnet Releasing)

“Next Exit” is a road trip movie that can be as erratic and irritating as the would-be couple at the center of the story. The movie would’ve been better with a less predictable ending, but there are enough compelling moments to make this dramedy watchable. Much of the credit can go to how the cast members gamely handle the dialogue and scenarios, which can occasionally be boring and cringeworthy.

Written and directed by Mali Elfman, “Next Exit” is the type of independent film that wants to be adorable and edgy at the same time. It’s a tricky combination to pull off, and “Next Exit” doesn’t always succeed at it. But unless a viewer is completely disconnected from the movie’s characters, “Next Exit” maintains enough interest where viewers will probably be curious to see how the movie is going to end. “Next Exit” had its world premiere at the 2022 Tribeca Film Festival.

“Next Exit” begins by showing a video recording of what a controversial scientist named Dr. Stevensen (played by Karen Gillan) has declared is genuine paranormal activity: A boy named Reo Nakada (played by Gavin Powers), who’s about 7 or 8 years old, is shown playing cards with his father Niko Nakada (played by Joe Powers) in Niko’s bedroom. What’s unusual about this video? Reo is dead. And, according to Dr. Stevensen, this recording is of Neo’s ghost playing cards with his father.

Dr. Stevensen insists that this video is proof that ghosts are real. However, much of the general public and the overall scientific community think the video is a hoax. Dr. Stevensen owns and operates the Life Beyond Institute, based in San Francisco, where she wants to test her theories about life after death by having people volunteer to undergo euthanasia.

Not surprisingly, the U.S. government shuts down all funding for this research. In response to this shutdown, Dr. Stevensen is shown on TV in a pre-recorded statement defending her Life Beyond Institute: “It is a critical, not a criminal, enterprise.”

Despite the controversy, two strangers in their 30s who want to be euthanasia volunteers at the Life Beyond Institute will soon find themselves unexpectedly taking a road trip together from New York City to San Francisco. These two people have different personalities, but they have similar reasons for wanthing to make this drastic decision: They both don’t like their current lives and feel they’ve got nothing left to lose.

Viewers first see Rose (played by Katie Parker) in her New York City apartment committing fraud when she sells her TV to a stranger named Chad (played by Ty Molbak), who has come over to her place to get the TV. After taking Chad’s cash, she throws the TV over the stairwell, where it is immediately destroyed. She then goes back in the apartment, and locks the door behind her, while an irate Chad demands to get his money back. Rose makes an escape out of an apartment window and never looks back.

Rose has no personal attachments and has already made up her mind to go on this road trip by renting a car. But when she gets to the car rental place, Rose finds out that she can’t rent a car because she doesn’t have a credit card. Her offer to pay by cash is strictly denied. Her pleas are ignored.

Just by coincidence, a British immigrant is standing next to her and overhears Rose’s plight. His name is Teddy (played by Rahul Kohli), and he can’t rent a car for a different reason: His driver’s license expires in two weeks, and he wants to rent a car for longer than two weeks. When Rose and Teddy find out that they both plan to drive to San Francisco, they quickly decide that the best solution to their car rental problem is to share a ride. Rose (who has a valid driver’s license) will rent the car in her name, Teddy will pay for the car rental with Teddy’s credit card, and Rose will pay him her half of the car rental expenses.

Of course, in every road trip movie, things don’t go as smoothly as expected. From the beginning, Rose and Teddy have a clash of personalities. They are both very sarcastic, but Rose is a sour pessimist and much more emotionally guarded than Teddy is. In the beginning of the movie, Teddy is shown quitting his job working for a congressman named Milton Lucas (played Michael May), who thinks Teddy is making a big mistake. Teddy has told his former boss that he quit because Teddy wants to be a Life Beyond Institute euthanasia volunteer.

Soon after meeting each other, Teddy opens up to Rose that he used to own his own company, but he’s vague on other details about this company. Teddy, who says he doesn’t have any family members in the United States, also reveals that he doesn’t like his life because he’s been in the U.S. for 10 years, and he hasn’t achieved his goals of finding a wife and making enough money to travel around the world. Rose, who is also unmarried with no children, tells Teddy very little about herself at first, but gradually more details emerge about her personal life.

A long stretch of “Next Exit” consists of Teddy and Rose bickering. An example of their banter happens when they check into a motel for the first time together. And what a coincidence: This motel only has one room available. Rose hates the idea of sharing a room with Teddy and lets him and the front-desk clerk know it in a very crabby way.

Teddy’s response is to try to laugh it off with a joke. He tells the front-desk clerk: “If you find me dead in the morning, she did it. Be sure to thank her for me.” He then says to Rose, “You don’t have to be an asshole the whole time.” Rose shouts back, “We’re not buddies! I don’t want to be your friend!” There’s more tension between Rose and Teddy. And some of it is sexual tension.

“Next Exit” predictably has Rose and Teddy encountering quirky and occasionally alarming characters during this road trip. And the most cliché thing that can happen in a road trip movie happens: The travelers have car trouble. In this case, it’s a flat tire. Rose and Teddy get car tire help from a Catholic priest named Father Jack (played by Tongayi Chirisa), who gets quite an earful when Rose unloads on him with a rant about her issues with the Catholic Church.

In a bar, Rose and Teddy meet a border patrol officer named John (played by Tim Griffin), who makes a drunken confession that is very disturbing. On another occasion, Teddy and Rose pick up a weird hitchhiker named Karma (played by Diva Zappa), who says she’s on the way to meet her psychic aunt in Santa Fe, New Mexico. In Arizona, Rose and Teddy end up visiting Rose’s sister Heather (played by Rose McIver), Heather’s husband Nick (played by Nico Evers-Swindell) and their adolescent daughter Steph (played by Sloane Weber), who all seem to be living a happy suburban life. But things are not at all what they seem, and the movie takes a somewhat dark turn, as some family secrets are revealed.

“Next Exit” missed some opportunities to have better character development for Teddy and Rose. Instead, there are distractions of putting Teddy and Rose in contrived and occasionally outlandish scenarios, for the purposes of getting more comedy or more drama out of the story. However, the movie obviously wants viewers to root for Teddy and Rose to fall in love with each other. Those intentions are sincere, but they don’t always feel earned. If Teddy and Rose fall in love, then what does that mean for their euthanasia plans?

Although “Next Exit” has several supporting characters, their time in the movie is fleeting and presented like characters appearing in sketch segments. The vast majority of screen time is about Rose and Teddy, a would-be couple who aren’t so much Mr. and Ms. Right but are more like Mr. and Ms. Right Now. Cast members Parker and Kohli give solid performances as these two conflicting characters. “Next Exit” tends to have a rambling narrative, but it’s ultimately very easy to see where this story is going and how it’s going to end.

Magnet Releasing released “Next Exit” in select U.S. cinemas, on digital and VOD on November 4, 2022.

Review: ‘Missing’ (2023), starring Storm Reid, Joaquim de Almeida, Ken Leung, Amy Landecker, Daniel Henney and Nia Long

January 20, 2023

by Carla Hay

Storm Reid and Megan Suri in “Missing” (Photo by Temma Hankin/Screen Gems)

“Missing” (2023)

Directed by Will Merrick and Nick Johnson

Culture Representation: Taking place in 2022, in the Los Angeles area and in Cartegena, Colombia, the dramatic film “Missing” (a spinoff of the 2018 film “Searching”) features a racially diverse cast of characters (African American, white, Asian and Latino) representing the working-class and middle-class.

Culture Clash: An 18-year-old woman who lives in Van Nuys, California, goes on a frantic search (mostly on her computer and phone) to find out what happened to her mother and her mother’s boyfriend, who both disappeared during a vacation trip to Cartegena, Colombia.

Culture Audience: “Missing” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of “Searching” and who are interested in fast-paced mystery thrillers.

Nia Long in “Missing” (Photo by Temma Hankin/Screen Gems)

“Missing” somewhat devolves into climactic scene clichés in the movie’s last 15 minutes. The rest of “Missing” is an absorbing and occasionally implausible twist-filled thriller about how technology can be used to solve mysteries. “Missing” is a spinoff movie of 2018’s “Searching” (about a father who uses computer technology to search for his missing teenage daughter), and “Missing” has some clever ideas and surprises that aren’t in “Searching.” However, the ending of “Missing” is a little too close to copying the ending of “Searching,” by playing too fast and loose with perceptions about the life or death of the missing person.

Will Merrick and Nick Johnson wrote and directed “Missing” (which is the feature-film directorial debut of Merrick and Johnson), after the duo served as editors of “Searching.” Aneesh Chaganty and Sev Ohanian, who co-wrote “Searching,” are credited with the story concept for “Missing” and are two of the producers of “Missing.” Chaganty made his feature-film directorial debut with “Searching,” which showed most of the father’s investigation happening on various computer screens and smartphone screens.

“Missing” follows a similar format of having most of the investigation shown on computer screens and smartphone screens, but “Missing” flips the script of “Searching”: Instead of a parent looking for a teenage daughter, “Missing” has a teenage daughter looking for a parent. In the case of “Missing,” this daughter has no other family members who can help her in this search.

“Missing” begins by showing a family home video from April 13, 2008, during what will be the family’s last trip together. James Allen (played by Tim Griffin) is on a kitchen floor with a kitten and his daughter June Allen (played by Ava Lee), who’s about 4 yearsold and who has the nickname Junebug. It’s a lighthearted family moment until June’s mother (played by Nia Long) notices that James has gotten a nosebleed.

The movie then shows that someone is looking at this home video in 2022: June Allen (played by Storm Reid), who is now 18 years old. It’s June 2022, and June has been looking sadly at this video because her father died in 2008, and Father’s Day is coming up in less than two weeks. June lives with her overprotective mother Grace Allen in Van Nuys, California, a suburb of Los Angeles. June has recently graduated from high school, and she doesn’t have any big plans for the summer.

This year will be the first year that June won’t have Grace nearby on Father’s Day. That’s because Grace is going on a romantic vacation trip to Colombia with Grace’s fairly new boyfriend Kevin Lin (played by Ken Leung), who is the CEO of a start-up company called All-Brand Consulting. The movie later reveals that Kevin and Grace met through a dating app. June’s relationship with Kevin is emotionally distant, and he’s been making attempts to get her to accept him because he says he’s in love with Grace and expects to be in a long-term relationship with her..

June is looking forward to having the house to herself and no adult supervision during Grace and Kevin’s weeklong vacation in Cartegena, Colombia. June has been tasked with picking up Grace and Kevin from Los Angeles International Airport on June 20, 2022. Grace has left behind some spending money for June, who ignores Grace’s complaints that June’s voice mailbox is full and needs to be cleared. June sometimes gets frustrated or amused when her mother gets confused by how to use a smartphone, such as when Grace mixes up using FaceTime with using Suri.

Even though June is dependent on Grace for nearly every necessity in life, June is at an age where she resents being treated like a child. Grace has asked her close friend Heather Damore (played by Amy Landecker), who’s a well-meaning and inquisitive attorney, to check in on June while Grace is away. June, who doesn’t really care for Heather, says with annoyance: “Mom, I don’t need a babysitter!” June also gets very irritated when Grace calls her Junebug, because June thinks that she has outgrown this childhood nickname.

While her mother is away, June spends a lot of time partying with friends, including her best friend Veena (played by Megan Suri), who has bought alcohol by using money that June gave her from the amount that Grace left behind. Montages of photos on Kevin’s social media show that he and Grace are having a lot of fun in Colombia. When it comes time to pick up Grace and Kevin from the airport, June almost oversleeps.

June has let the house become a mess, so she quickly uses Taskrabbit (an app for temporary workers) to find a housecleaner to tidy up the house before Grace gets home. Taskrabbit is shown and talked about enough times in the movie, it’s a little bit of overload on brand placement. When Grace gets to the airport, Kevin and Grace aren’t there. Grace and Kevin also aren’t responding to any attempts to communicate with them.

Feeling worried and confused, June calls Hotel Poma Rosa, the place where Grace and Kevin were staying in Cartegena. Her concern turns to alarm when she finds out that Grace and Kevin were last seen leaving the hotel two days ago, but they left behind all of their belongings. June knows a little Spanish, but she is able to communicate better in Spanish by using Google Translate. The front-desk clerk who talks to June on the phone says that the hotel has video surveillance for the main front entrance, but after 48 hours, the video gets recorded over.

By now, Grace’s friend Heather and June’s friend Veena have joined in on the frantic search. Through her attorney connections, Heather has contacted the U.S. Embassy in Columbia to file a missing persons report. The FBI has assigned an agent named Elijah Park (played by Daniel Henney) to lead the investigation, but he warns June that the FBI doesn’t have jurisdiction for certain crimes in Colombia. First, the FBI has to find out if any crimes have been committed in this missing persons case.

The FBI can’t guarantee that someone can be sent in time to look at the hotel’s video surveillance footage. And so, June takes it upon herself to use Taskrabbit to find a local person in Cartegena to do it for her. She ends up hiring a compassionate and resourceful middle-aged man named Javi (played by Joaquim de Almeida), who becomes a valuable aide in many things that June asks him to do in the search. It’s explained in this “race against time” movie that June can’t go to Colombia herself because she’s finding out important things at such a rapid pace, getting on a plane to Colombia would slow down her investigation.

Much of June’s investigation involves Internet searches and video phone calls, but the tension is ramped up by quick-cutting editing, so that looking at all these computer screens doesn’t get boring for viewers of the movie. Just like in “Searching,” the more the protagonist investigates, the more information is revealed to expose certain secrets. “Missing” keeps viewers guessing until a certain point if Kevin is a victim of foul play, or if he had something to do with Grace’s disappearance. And just when it looks like the movie will go one way, it goes another way, until the last (very predictable) 15 minutes.

All of the cast members give watchable performances in “Missing,” with Reid offering a very realistic and empathetic portrayal of June. She carries the movie quite well in expressing the myriad of emotions and experiences that June has in the story. Most of the other characters in the movie are somewhat generic, except for enigmatic Kevin. Leung skillfully handles this role that viewers and some of the movie’s characters can’t quite figure out up until a turning point if Kevin is a “good guy” or “bad guy.”

“Missing” also credibly depicts the obstacles faced by a teenager looking for a loved one who’s disappeared, since some people don’t take June as seriously as they would if she were a much older adult. It’s why it looks very believable that tech-savvy June would want to take matters into her own hands instead of waiting for law enforcement officials who’ve already shown and told her that they’re very busy with other things. Even with June’s believable “take charge” attitude, there are still some hard-to-believe moments in “Missing,” which uses lot of the quick-cut editing to mask some very improbable occurrences that happen much quicker in the movie than they would happen in real life.

And woe to anyone watching this movie who’s computer-illiterate, because some of the computer terminology and functions in this movie will just be too confusing for people who aren’t familiar with the apps and gadgets shown in the movie. Conversely, “Missing” is so reliant on showing computer technology of 2022, this movie will eventually look very dated. (“Missing” also has inside references to “Searching,” including a scene where June watches a true crime show called “Un-Fiction,” which has an episode with recreations based on the case that was in “Searching.”) There’s nothing award-worthy about “Missing,” but it’s still very entertaining for anyone who wants to spend nearly two hours watching an intriguing mystery film.

Screen Gems released “Missing” in U.S. cinemas on January 20, 2023.

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