There are things in this life that we keep steady despite all adversity. Friends, family, relationships, even one’s own pride and determination. Chaos can define the world around us, threatening to destabilize everything we know and love. But still, we persist. Something keeps us going.
This film consists of half brilliant setup and half treading water. The setup is some of the most lively filmmaking of the year, with lines that zing off the page and an energy that crackles underneath the mounting tension. The three women at the center are all excellent, with Weisz in particular delivering a ferociously entertaining performance throughout.
This is an overly dramatized package of forced sentiments that ultimately have nothing to say beyond “conversion therapy is bad.” Edgerton directs this like he’s making a thriller at times, framing his conflicts along the most rudimentary lines and relying on music cues more so than on character development. It’s quite unfortunate that none of the relationships between Hedges’ character and the boys his age are fleshed out at all. Everyone around him is a plot point, not a character, and that’s most evident in a late film turn that just feels lazily manipulative.
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