Would You Rather (2013)

the audience applauded

People are voting emotionally.

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

This film centres around Iris (Brittany Snow), a young girl trying to make ends meet whilst looking after her brother who is in deteriorating health . Expensive medical bills and the struggle of finding well paying work finds Iris accepting an invitation by an ominous, well dressed man with deep pockets (Jeffrey Combs) for the promise of a chance to get her brother the medical help that he needs, providing she attends a dinner party and takes place in some sort of competition. Would You Rather takes a children's game and adds to it an interesting spin. Run by the head of a wealthy family, people must make the choices of their lives in a limited time for the promise of receiving life altering money... If they can be the last one's standing. Iris must make time sensitive choices under gruelling conditions if she is to survive and help her brother.This film brings with it an interesting look into the human mind and the choices that people make whilst under duress, taking into account values, morals, and the basic human instinct to survive.

I found this movie just hilarious! I have a pretty sick sense of humor, and I laughed at every single death! The villain is kind of charming! He plays this death game with desperate people offering them an undisclosed amount of money. Then, there's black guy who tries to save everyone since he was in the death game before. I checked the spoiler box, but we all knew how that was going to end! It's like, "Hmm, the protagonist is a pretty white girl, so we know she's safe." Despite all this, I was surprised by the end! It's a good watch!

Theme Song: "Would you shoot your best friend or stab him with a pen?"Predictable, along the lines of 'The Box' which was based on the short story 'The Button' and agonizingly stretched into a two hour movie. Every moment that was supposed to be a shocking, unexpected moral decision was predictable and staged. 'You mean someone would choose themself over a perfect stranger in a life and death situation?' Say it ain't so. 'The host is an evil sadist?' I never would have guessed before the fifth evil laugh.* spoiler * (as if that's possible)'You mean all that was for nothing?' There was no twist that made the ending satisfying. By now, one of the survivors from an earlier game would have used their money to buy a rifle w/a telescopic site and shot the villain. It was like watching a 2hr Itchy / Scratchy marathon. Oh, and it's a message movie, what would you do for money and survival, I bet some of you would to eat a live Goldfish. If you don't believe me then watch this movie.

The most painful aspect of this film is that it draws relatively no emotion from its viewers. The entire time I was watching, I didn't feel any empathy for any of the characters. This was mostly because we only really ever learn about the main character and her reason for participating in the dinner. All of the other characters are simply Jane Does. Each one assigned with a slightly different personality than the others. In addition to the competitors, there is a doctor (who had once played the game and survived) and a son of the host/villain. Both of which played no role in the advancement of the plot. The doctor gets killed at about 4 minutes of total screen time, while the host's son just leaves the movie halfway through. Neither one is missed in the second half of the film.Finally, the ways almost all of the characters die are horribly anti- climatic. Three are shot. Fine. That makes sense. BUT, an old woman gets poked in the leg and bleeds out in 20 seconds. Another dude gets whipped like 9 times on the back and somehow dies from those wounds. And another guy has a firecracker blow up in his hand and has a lame heart attack. Which brings us to the lady who draws a card that says she will have her head held underwater for 4 minutes. They could have just skipped that whole scene since we know she's not going to survive that.I recommend watching this movie if you have friends over who enjoy making fun of poorly written/produced movies as much as you do.