Topher Grace Archives – CULTURE MIX

Review: ‘Heretic’ (2024), starring Hugh Grant, Sophie Thatcher and Chloe East

October 31, 2024

by Carla Hay

Hugh Grant, Sophie Thatcher and Chloe East in “Heretic” (Photo by Kimberley French/A24)

“Heretic” (2024)

Directed by Scott Beck and Bryan Woods

Culture Representation: Taking place in an unnamed city in Utah, the horror film “Heretic” features an all-white cast of characters representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.

Culture Clash: Two young Mormon missionaries visit a potential convert in his home, where he traps them for sinister reasons.

Culture Audience: “Heretic” will appeal mainly to fans of star Hugh Grant and horror movies with many themes about how religion affects people’s lives.

Hugh Grant in “Heretic” (Photo by Kimberley French/A24)

“Heretic” is a very talkative horror film for the first third of the movie, where there’s much discussion about faith and religion. The acting performances are compelling, even when some of the plot twists aren’t very credible. Mind games outweigh any gore.

Written and directed by Scott Beck and Bryan Woods, “Heretic” had its world premiere at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival. The movie’s biggest action scenes don’t happen until the last third of the movie. There’s a lot of “slow burn” tension that eventually increases and turns into effectively suspenseful moments. “Heretic” has some absolute surprises that would have had more impact if the movie’s ending hadn’t been so conventional.

“Heretic” has three characters that get the vast majority of screen time in the movie, which takes place primarily inside one house in an unnamed suburban city in Utah during the course of 24 hours. (“Heretic” was actually filmed in British Columbia, Canada.) The date in the story is November 7, in an unnamed year in the 2020s. The movie successfully conveys the feelings of foreboding and dread of the two visitors who become trapped in the house by the house’s owner.

The opening scene of “Heretic” shows the two young Mormon missionaries who will become these kidnapping victims. The characters in the movie aren’t identified by their first names, perhaps as a way to keep them at a certain emotional distance from the audience. Not much is told about the personal backgrounds of any of the characters in “The Heretic.”

Sister Barnes (played by Sophie Thatcher) and Sister Paxton (played by Chloe East), who are both in their late teens or early 20s, are sitting outside on a bench as they talk about the evils of pornography, but they’re curious enough to watch porn anyway. Sister Paxton says that when she was watching a porn movie, she could practically see the soul being sucked out of an actress in a sex scene. These missionaries both agree that the Tony-winning musical “The Book of Mormon” (which they’ve been forbidden to see) is obscene and isn’t representative of Mormon missionaries.

Sister Barnes and Sister Paxton have opposite personalities. Sister Barnes is introverted, brooding and emotionally guarded. Sister Paxton is extroverted, perky and talkative. Sister Barnes seems to be more “street smart” and more intellectual than Sister Paxton, who is more likely to know about pop culture than ancient philosophy. Sister Barnes is more of a planner who likes to take charge of a situation, compared to Sister Paxton, who seems to be more spontaneous and easygoing.

Sister Barnes and Sister Paxton are both devoted to their cause of going to people’s homes to preach to them about the Mormon religion to strengthen the faith of those who are already Mormon, or to convert those who are not Mormon. It’s later revealed that Sister Barnes is still emotionally scarred from the death of her father, who passed away of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, when she was a child. Sister Paxton’s parents are still alive and married, but she grew up in Portland, Oregon, and is still trying to adjust to this smaller city in Utah.

Sister Paxton and Sister Barnes, who travel by bicycle, have been out almost all day. It’s almost getting to the end of the day when it will soon turn dark. Their last appointment of the day is with someone named Mr. Reed (played by Hugh Grant), who lives in a Victorian-styled house in a fairly remote wooded area. All that these two missionaries know is that Mr. Reed wants to learn more about the Mormon religion.

When they arrive at Mr. Reed’s house, he seems very polite and friendly. Sister Barnes and Sister Paxton explain to him that they can’t go inside any home with a man unless there’s another woman who’s in the home. Mr. Reed says that his wife is baking blueberry pie in the kitchen. It has started to rain, so Mr. Reed invites Sister Barnes and Sister Paxton inside. During the course of the movie, the rain turns into heavy snow.

As already revealed in the trailer for “Heretic,” Mr. Reed lies about having a wife in the house, and he traps the two missionaries. Long before Sister Barnes and Sister Paxton find out that they’ve been kidnapped, there’s a huge stretch of this 110-minute movie where it’s nothing but Mr. Reed, Sister Barnes and Sister Paxton having an increasingly comfortable conversation. The first red flag is when Mr. Reed asks Sister Barnes and Sister Paxton: “How do you feel about polygamy?”

Mr. Reed reveals that he studied theology when he was a university student, which is why he says he is fascinated with different religions. It’s obvious that Mr. Reed is not only highly intellectual (he quizzes the missionaries about different topics about religion, faith, history and spirituality), but he also has some very crude and twisted intentions. It’s explained at one point that Sister Barnes and Sister Paxton can’t use their cell phones because the house’s walls and ceilings are made of metal.

Music plays a prominent role in “Heretic,” most notably in a scene where Mr. Reed plays The Hollies’ 1974 hit “The Air That I Breathe” when he lectures the two missionaries about life’s “re-iterations.” He explains that Radiohead was sued for plagiarism for Radiohead’s 1992 hit “Creep,” because of the melody similarities to “The Air That I Breathe.” Lana Del Rey was later sued by Radiohead for plagiarism because Radiohead claimed that Lana Del Rey’s 2017 song “Get Free” was a plagiarism of “Creep.” Mr. Reed’s point: Religions, just like some songs, really aren’t original and are just of re-iterations of things that previously existed.

Grant is quite masterful at playing a villain who is both charming and sleazy. Mr. Reed is able to intrigue his victims because as soon as he shows his sleazy side, he puts on the charm and makes his victims question if they are being paranoid or are judging him too harshly. Grant’s performance is one of the reasons why “Heretic” is not as boring as it could have been in the first third of the movie, which has nothing but talking. However, some viewers might grow a little impatient to get to the action scenes, which happen much later in the movie than what it looks like in the “Heretic” trailer.

Thatcher and East give worthy performances as these two contrasting missionaries, although viewers still won’t feel like they really know Sister Barnes and Sister Paxton by the end of the movie. Just like many other horror movies, “Heretic” will make viewers wonder why these missionaries didn’t leave when things started to get weird with Mr. Reed and it was obvious there was no wife in the house. “Heretic” makes the point that these missionaries have been taught to be obedient and fulfill their mission as much as possible with every person they meet. In other words, Sister Barnes and Sister Paxton are more trusting and more compliant than perhaps the average non-missionary person would be in the same situation.

Although the surprises in “Heretic” are mostly clever and truly unpredictable, a few twists just don’t ring true at all. For example, one of the missionaries has a complete change in personality toward the end of the film, which shows she had been deliberately hiding certain aspects of herself all along. This personality reveal only comes conveniently during the part of the movie that turns into a slasher flick and there’s a “life or death” battle.

A few plot holes are revealed early on in “Heretic.” One of the biggest plot holes is Mr. Reed used his name and real home address to make the appointment, which is in the records of the church where Sister Barnes and Sister Paxton work. When the two missionaries aren’t back at the church when expected, they’re considered missing. A church official named Elder Kennedy (played by Topher Grace) then goes looking for them.

Therefore, no matter what happens to these missionaries, there’s a record that the last place that they were supposed to be for the day was at Mr. Reed’s house. It would automatically make Mr. Reed a person of interest if there’s a police investigation of these missing missionaries. Mr. Reed is meticulous and cunning in many other aspects of his kidnapping plan, so it seems quite stupid of him to leave such a big clue that would make him the target of an investigation.

The screenplay flaws in “Heretic” don’t ruin the movie, but they lower the quality of the film, which undercuts the premise that Mr. Reed is supposed to be a criminal mastermind. A true mastermind would not make the obvious mistakes that Mr. Reed makes in luring these two missionaries into his trap. “Heretic” is at its best with its sharp dialogue and intense psychological horror scenes. The movie is not quite the non-stop thrill ride that it appears to be, but it has enough to keep viewer interest to see how everything is going to end.

A24 will release “Heretic” in U.S. cinemas on November 8, 2024. A sneak preview of the movie was shown in select U.S. cinemas on October 30, 2024.

Review: ‘Irresistible’ (2020), starring Steve Carell, Chris Cooper, Mackenzie Davis and Rose Byrne

June 26, 2020

by Carla Hay

“Irresistible”

Directed by Jon Stewart

Culture Representation: Taking place mostly in the fictional working-class town of Deerlaken, Wisconsin, the political comedy “Irresistible” features a predominantly white cast (with a few African Americans and Latinos) representing the middle-class.

Culture Clash: A high-profile and experienced Democrat National Committee strategist arrives in Deerlaken because he thinks he can groom a future Democratic presidential candidate by getting him elected as a Democrat mayor of Deerlaken, but this mayoral campaign faces stiff competition from the campaign of the Republican incumbent.

Culture Audience: “Irresistible” will appeal mostly to fans of Steve Carell and political comedies, but the movie is nothing more than a series of lazy stereotypes.

Rose Byrne and Steve Carell in “Irresistible” (Photo by Daniel McFadden/Focus Features)

Contrary to what it looks like in the trailer for the political comedy “Irresistible,” this smug and annoying movie is not centered on a possible romance between Democrat National Committee strategist Gary Zimmer (played by Steve Carell) and Republican National Committee strategist Faith Brewster (played by Rose Byrne), as they’re pitted against each other in a mayoral campaign battle in the fictional working-class town of Deerlaken, Wisconsin. Byrne’s Faith Brewster character isn’t in the movie every much, even though photos and images of Byrne in the movie’s marketing materials make it appear is if she’s a co-lead actor in the movie. She’s not. She has a small supporting role.

Instead, “Irresistible” (written and directed by Jon Stewart) is very much enamored with making the condescending, posturing “liberal” Gary Zimmer the center of the story. It’s at least commendable that “Irresistible” did not try to completely copy the “love/hate/we know they’re going to get together” relationship of political opposites that was on display in director Ron Underwood’s critically panned 1994 comedy flop “Speechless.” Geena Davis and Michael Keaton starred in “Speechless” as political speechwriters working on rival campaigns—a story inspired by the real-life romance of James Carville and Mary Matalin, except that in “Speechless,” the woman was the Democrat and the man was the Republican.

In “Irresistible,” Gary is the worst kind of liberal: He thinks he’s open-minded and progressive, but he has the same old-fashioned stereotypical beliefs about women and people of color as the conservatives he says he despises. It’s unclear if writer/director Stewart (who is an outspoken liberal in real life) intentionally set out to do a satire of this type of self-congratulatory liberal, but the end result is a comedy film that takes itself way too seriously.

And, quite frankly, the screenwriting for “Irresistible” isn’t very good at all. Just because Stewart wrote a lot of jokes and won several Emmys when he hosted “The Daily Show” from 1999 to 2015, that doesn’t mean he’s a talented screenwriter for movies. “Irresistible” (not to be confused with the 2006 “Irresistible” love-triangle drama, starring Susan Sarandon, Sam Neill and Emily Blunt) is also an odd name for a political satire/comedy, since many people find politics to be the opposite of irresistible and actually quite repellent—much like how the competing political strategists in this movie are repulsive characters.

“Irresistible” starts off with a montage of photos of U.S. presidential campaigns from various Republican and Democrat nominees, from 1968 to 2016. The movie then shows Gary and Faith experiencing Election Day for the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign. Faith is reveling in the victory of Donald Trump, while Gary is crushed by Hillary Clinton’s loss.

The rest of the story then pivots to Gary’s point of view, as Faith only pops up here and there for the rest of the movie. Gary comes across a viral video of a former Marine-turned-farmer in Deerlaken (pronounced “Deer-locken”), giving a passionate pro-immigration speech at a town council meeting about undocumented workers. That farmer is Jack Hastings (played by Chris Cooper, in one of his long list of “folksy, salt-of-the-earth” roles), a widower who tells an anti-immigration city official in front of the assembled crowd: “I’m not saying you’re a bad person. I think you’re scared.”

Gary tells his assembled team at his headquarters in Washington, D.C., that this farmer could be a promising candidate to win a future U.S. presidential election because Jack is a hero ex-Marine who looks conservative but talks progressive. As far as Gary can tell, Jack is not affiliated with any political party and has no political aspirations, but Gary thinks he’s come up with a brilliant idea to groom Jack into a Democrat: Gary wants to go to Deerlaken to help Jack run for mayor.

“He’s a Democrat but just doesn’t know it,” Gary says arrogantly about Jack. Gary also crudely describes Jack to his team as “a man who makes Joe the Plumber look like [1988 Democratic presidential nominee Michael] Dukakis in mom jeans and a fucking Easter bonnet.” This “joke” only works with people who know about U.S. presidential campaigns from the late 1980s and early 1990s.

When Gary tells his team that he wants to get Jack elected, it’s a problematic scene that reduces the few people of color in the scene (three Latino men and one black woman) as tokens who only speak up when Gary talks about needing representation from their racial groups. He condescendingly tells them that Hillary Clinton lost the election because not enough black people and Latinos showed up to vote for her. (Gary conveniently forgets to mention all the white citizens who voted for Barack Obama in 2008 and 2012, but didn’t vote for Clinton in 2016, even though Obama campaigned for her.)

Debra Messing has a brief, uncredited cameo in the scene as another “liberal” DNC staffer who thinks she knows best, by saying the best strategy for Democrats to win the next presidential election is to get more black and Latino citizens to vote. The Latino men in the meeting agree, and join hands with the Debra Messing character, while shutting out the black woman sitting in between them. The men utter something in Spanish in solidarity.

The only black DNC staffer (played by Denise Moyé) in the meeting speaks up, by saying that she agrees with Gary’s idea of expanding the Democrats’ base and not taking votes for granted. The Debra Messing character (who also doesn’t have a name in the movie) sheepishly agrees.

It’s a cringeworthy, pandering and poorly written/depicted scene. The one thing that’s fairly accurate is how Gary, like a lot of people in power, think they can speak for all racial groups on their team, without actually checking to see how the team members from different racial groups actually feel about those topics.

At any rate, by the time Gary and his nearly all-white team head to the nearly all-white Deerlaken, his massive ego thinks that he can roll into town and tell these people what to do because he’s a big-city intellectual liberal who’s a big-shot strategist from the DNC. Of course, the movie’s biggest credibility plot hole is that in real life, a political strategist with this amount of clout would not waste all this time to get a small-town mayor elected. Why? There’s not enough money in it for the strategist.

Gary convinces Jack to run for mayor as a Democrat by saying things like: “I know you don’t think of yourself as a Democrat, but after hearing your speech, I can assure you, you are. And I would like to offer you my company services to do so … Democrats are getting our asses kicked because guys like me don’t know how to talk to guys like you.”

Faith finds out that Gary is in this small town for this campaign, so she shows up in Deerlaken to be the strategist for the Republican incumbent Mayor Braun (played by Brent Sexton), because apparently she has nothing better to do with her time either. Faith and Mayor Braun don’t get nearly as much screen time in the movie as Gary and Jack do, but these sparsely written Republican characters are also written as stereotypes. Faith could easily pass for a Fox News anchor, while Mayor Braun uses Republican tropes in his campaign, such as the love of God, guns and country folks.

Multiple times in the movie, “Irresistible” makes a heavy-handed point about campaign finances and how money can corrupt politicians. Gary is obviously in politics for the money and power. Therefore, it doesn’t ring true that someone like him would get so caught up in a small-time mayoral campaign. It seems like this common sense was thrown out the window when Stewart was writing the screenplay, whose only purpose seems to be portraying people in the political process as broad clichés.

When Gary arrives in Deerlaken, all the predictable stereotypes are on display. (Although Deerlaken is supposed to be in Wisconsin, the movie’s Deerlaken scenes were actually filmed in Rockmart, Georgia.) The only thing that Stewart didn’t do to add to the condescending stereotypes of Midwestern rural people is have anyone chew on hayseed.

The volunteers for Jack’s campaign aren’t very smart, which is the movie’s way of saying that people in this area are very uneducated. When the volunteers start calling people on their phone lists, they find out they’re accidentally calling each other at campaign headquarters instead of voters, because the volunteers mistook the office phone list for the voters phone list. And it takes Gary to point out this mistake to them. That’s how “dumb” these locals are.

Gary is staying a motel where the motel bar is also the “front desk.” It’s a bar where men wear flannel shirts and have names like Big Mike (played by Will Sasso) and Little Mike (played by Will McLaughlin) and don’t seem to have an education past high school. The motel and the town are so “behind the times” that they don’t even have Wi-Fi or broadband service throughout most of the town. They mostly access the Internet through dial-up service. The annoying screech of a dial-up modem connection is a running “joke” in the film.

And there’s a badly written scene of Gary and some of the men on his team parked in a car outside the town’s high school, one of the few places with Wi-Fi access. Gary and his team are asked to leave, but they refuse, so they get kicked out of the parking lot because the school’s security people think it’s a car full of possible sexual predators.

Even when Gary gives a lustful stare when he first sees Jack’s 28-year-old daughter Diana (played by Mackenzie Davis) at Jack’s farm, that lust turns to some disgust when he sees that she’s got her hand up the rear end of a cow. For most of the movie, Gary and his team underestimate Diana’s intelligence because they think she’s an ignorant farmer’s daughter who doesn’t know much about politics. It still doesn’t stop Gary from flirting with Diana, but he’s mostly focused on winning the campaign for Jack.

Two of the people on Gary’s team are nerdy pollster Kurt (played by Topher Grace) and abrasive digital analytics strategist Tina (played by Natasha Lyonne), who clash with each over about how they think their respective voter analysis is better. Tina huffs when she dismisses Kurt’s polling numbers by saying that people’s computer usage is a more accurate picture of who voters are: “A digital footprint is your true self.”

When Kurt and Tina get into a little verbal tiff during a campaign meeting, Diana speaks up and says to Tina, “Surely, people are more complete than their online transactions.” Tina snaps back, “Says the woman with three cats and intense [Internet] search history of the herpes virus.” This is what’s supposed to pass as humor in this movie.

In fact, there’s very little humor to be found in “Irresistible,” which is a waste of this talented cast. Faith and Gary have some obvious sexual tension with each other, but it’s written in such an off-putting way that it’s just not as funny as Stewart probably thought it was when he wrote the script.

For example, there’s one scene where Faith calls Gary “fat,” and then she gives him a long lick on his face like it’s an ice cream cone. In another scene, Gary and Faith have an argument and then say that whichever of them loses the election will have to perform oral sex on the other for an hour. This oral sex “dare” is described in much cruder terms in the movie.

By the end of “Irresistible,” there’s kind of a dumb plot twist that reiterates some of the preachy messages of the film. But this plot twist doesn’t matter too much, because the entire plot of a strategist like Gary being in a small town like Deerlaken was an ill-conceived idea in the first place. And “Irresistible” also has an unnecessary gimmick of showing three different epilogues (the last epilogue in the film is supposed to be the “real” one), even going as far as having the end credits start to roll during each epilogue, just to trick/confuse viewers over which epilogue is “real.”

With so many U.S. citizens in real life who are already cynical or apathetic about politics, “Irresistible” isn’t going to make people feel good about participating in the political process. And although “Irresistible” is obviously influenced by “The Candidate” and “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington,” it definitely won’t be considered a classic like those films.

Focus Features released “Irresistible” in select U.S. cinemas, digital and VOD.