Ready Or Not Review

The blend of an inventive narrative, successful deadpan humor, and vicious action helps make the hide-and-seek romp Ready Or Not from directing duo Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett an entertaining and memorable horror-comedy. Though it has noticeable flaws like the inconsistent and often distractingly dark cinematography or the linear plotline that features easily predictable moments scattered throughout, it’s difficult to let these issues take away from a film that has such a clear sense of fun and uniqueness to many of its elements. Ultimately the punchlines and bloodshed are able to produce a final result that’s far stronger than the film's few weaknesses.

Ready Or Not follows the ecstatic Grace as she marries the love of her life Alex Le Domas, son to a wealthy family of tyrants in the board game industry. But the gooey-eyed and lovestruck Grace soon finds out that the luxurious riches and man of her dreams comes with a catch – she must play a game with the Le Domas at midnight as a form of initiation. What sounds like a playful enough event soon becomes something much more deranged, Grace must hide from midnight to dawn as she is hunted by gun, knife, and crossbow-wielding family members.

Ready Or Not spends no time getting into the gripping violence that’s anticipated, only devoting a small portion of the first act to the world-building and character introductions of the Le Domas family before getting right into the high pace survival horror. There’s a self-awareness to the writing and filmmaking of Ready or Not that feels constantly utilized by Bettinelli-Olpin, Gillett, and screenwriters Guy Busick and Christopher Murphy. The characters, while not overly complex or complicated, are entertaining through the consistent wittiness of the script and the wonderful performances that are given throughout. However, no one in the cast can give a performance that compares to Samara Weaving as the horrified and unhinged lead protagonist Grace. The range that she displays from punished and terrified to satirically charming is always entertaining and complimenting each element that the film projects.

The allure and magnetism of Ready Or Not is not brimming in every aspect though. Despite being just over feature-length, the film does have times where the constant over-the-top action feels repetitive more than memorable. The problems in cinematography are also somewhat of a distraction, parts of Ready Or Not are beautifully lit and atmospheric in tone, but some scenes are underexposed and far too dark, making it an inconsistent visual experience despite being mostly positive.

Overall, the few flaws in filmmaking and the linear storytelling of Ready Or Not doesn’t extinguish the original and extremely fun film that it becomes. Thrilling and crowd-pleasing, it ends far before it runs out of steam, with a memorable ending that matches the comedic horror tone that it successfully maintains through its entire runtime.

The satirical whit and brutal violence gives Ready Or Not a memorability that outweighs its few flaws.

Produced By: Fox Searchlight Pictures
Runtime: 95 minutes
Rating: R