Sam Raimi Gouges Out Another Dark Comedy with ‘Send Help’
20th Century Studios
Anyone who has spent a substantial amount of time working in an office environment is probably familiar with the coworker who has an insatiable hunger to insert themselves into conversations they aren’t a part of, like some hungry hungry hippo devouring the most trivial topics. And they are just as well-versed in the upper manager who seems immune to any practical demonstration of skillset, who only rewards those with similar leisure habits or narrow interests. Sam Raimi’s Send Help plays out a perverse sort of wish fulfillment by trapping these two on a deserted island together.
Linda Liddle (Rachel McAdams) is on the verge of being fired from her company—though she doesn’t know it yet—by the new boss, Bradley Preston (Dylan O’Brien). Bradley has inherited the company from his father, who saw Linda’s critical capabilities. But all Bradley can sense is the food in Linda’s teeth and the odor of tuna that wafts in when Linda enters his office. He passes over Linda for the VP promotion that she’d been promised, offering it instead to his school buddy, Donovan (Xavier Samuel), a man who, by all indications, has taken up Patrick Bateman’s skincare routine and general ethos.
Bradley “graciously” gives Linda a final chance to prove herself on an international business trip—an idea that goes awry for both of them when the plane crashes into the ocean and everyone else (Donovan’s smug rictus, included) perishes. Linda’s more prepared for this scenario than would be expected, though. She’s an outdoorsy type whose shelves are filled with hiking and adventure books, who has watched Survivor religiously, and even applied to be a contestant on the show. She immediately gets to test out all her survival skills, so Bradley’s personal hell quickly becomes a little slice of heaven for Linda. Bradley’s injured leg prevents him from doing anything on his own, but Linda is kind to him, sheltering him and giving him food. Over time, though, that kindness starts to slip into a controlling tendency as Linda relishes the inverted power dynamics that the island has allowed.
They work together to a degree, bonding to a degree, but there’s always the possibility that this camaraderie will devolve into a dangerous competition. (An early funny moment hints at the Lord of the Flies potential as Linda runs back to the beach shouting “I have the conch!”) Bradley’s desperate to get back to the real world and his fiancee; Linda’s having too much fun. This little paradise was never going to last, let alone in a Sam Raimi film. Any Raimi picture, even when he’s helming a superhero movie, comes with a warning up front: There will be blood. Send Help deluges the screen with blood, snot, and vomit. Teeth fly out, and eyes threaten to do much the same. Everything is over the top and cartoonish—the Raimi special.
Raimi’s reputation for lacing gore with comedy probably tells you up front if Send Help is for you or not. While the elements are all there and carried out serviceably, the truth is his brutal slapstick is simply not my style. It would help if everything away from the beach encampment wasn’t so thin. The setup focuses on broad office cringe that’s too familiar, too overplayed. Bradley and Donovan would have felt unbelievably inflated even in the 90s; sure, it’s easy (and valid) to dunk on wannabe executives, but when’s the last time any of them said directly to an underling’s face that they needed “someone who plays golf”? It’s not that the moral vacuity is hard to believe, but that it’s too blunt.
Beyond the wild boar meat and some (possibly toxic) octopus, there’s nothing to chew on here. No real critique of corporate culture is made that hasn’t filled one-panel comic strips for decades. O’Brien has solid enough comedic sensibilities, but this is McAdams’ picture from minute one. She is undeniably strong—she’s been one of the most entertaining performers for years now—and she gives depth to the thin sketch of character that Linda is allotted. Physical comedy, matchless line deliveries, and expressive commitment to the insanity are all strong qualities of McAdams’ that she is eager to employ in Raimi’s film.
If you’re looking for a surprising script or imagery that will stick with you for months, you’ll need to send your search party to another beach. But if the prospect of a straightforward survival confrontation that promises to swerve excitedly into The Most Dangerous Game territory, then Raimi’s Send Help will be a pleasant reminder of the director’s particular ways.
