Borderline review
Flourishes of brilliance barely raise Borderline to the…um…borderline.
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Borderline
Directed by Jimmy Warden
Written by Jimmy Warden
Starring Samara Weaving, Eric Dane, Ray Nicholson, Jimmie Fails, Alba Baptista, Catherine Lough Haggquist and Patrick Cox
Borderline Review
Like most sane people…I get excited whenever there is a new Samara Weaving genre picture to behold. She picks fun projects and is always awesome in them. The latest movie to carry her name on the credit list is Borderline. A movie that has Samara Weaving…but isn’t always sure what to do with Samara Weaving. That doesn’t mean that Borderline doesn’t feature some standout moments for Weaving and the rest of the cast…it actually excels at providing some outlandishly entertaining scenes. It’s everything that comes between those moments that throws Borderline off track.
Sofia (Weaving) is a pop star turned actress turned celebrity. With those credits comes the danger of being stalked by a crazy person. Sofia’s crazy person is Paul (Ray Nicholson). Paul believes that he’s in a relationship with Sofia…and, after escaping incarceration, heads to her home to officially tie the knot. Wackiness (sometimes) ensues.
We meet Paul before the opening title card hits the screen. He arrives at Sofia’s home to see his make-believe girlfriend. Sofia’s bodyguard Bell (Eric Dane) attempts to reason with Paul before taking a knife to the gut. Flash forward six months later and Bell has returned to duty following the attack…and Paul has returned with a grander plan for his beloved Sofia.
Bell is the most interesting character in Borderline. He’s a calming, kind presence that goes against the overly manly stereotypes you’d expect to find in a character like this. He seems almost compassionate towards Paul…giving him way too many last chances with only the threat of involving the police. It makes him a pretty bad bodyguard honestly…but it makes him a fascinating character. Even after he nearly dies (only surviving because Paul called the cops on himself) Bell approaches Paul and his delusions with a soft touch. He also has the most backstory of any character in Borderline. He’s lost his wife to cancer…and his young daughter fears for his safety when he returns to work. Bell is so well-developed, in fact, that it makes how underdeveloped the other characters are stand out like sore thumbs.
Paul escapes with another nut from the nuthouse…Penny (Alba Baptista). Penny is a lot wilder than Paul. She finds great joy in hurting (and killing) people. Paul, as Bell tells us, only gets dangerous when he becomes confused. I’m not sure how that fits with what we see in the pre-title sequence…but sure. Penny helps Paul break into Sofia’s home once again…with plans to hold a wedding ceremony.
You may have noticed that we’ve barely discussed Sofia in this review. There is a reason for that. Sofia isn’t that big of a presence in the first half of Borderline. Or, at least, not an important one. She’s hanging out with a basketball player named Rhodes (Jimmie Fails) who doesn’t seem to think that much of her. It takes nearly forty minutes for Sofia to even come face to face with Paul. The movie rarely feels like it’s about Paul’s obsession with Sofia. Or, more accurately, Samara Weaving’s Sofia. In one of Borderline’s best running bits…Paul can’t always tell who Sofia is. However he views the world…it’s full of boundless love for this woman. He just can’t see through his obsession well enough to pick her out of a line-up.
Since it only feels like Sofia is intermittently in danger…something else has to raise the stakes. Given that Bell is the one with the backstory and loved ones…it shouldn’t be hard to figure out how Borderline is going to achieve that. The movie makes an odd choice to remove Bell from the story early…even though we know he will have to return since the story beats are mostly his for some reason. How the film explains his absence is, like much of Borderline, inevitably funny enough. But probably not worth the jarring feeling of an event you know won’t stick.
Borderline never sets the right tone or finds the correct balance to make its story work. There are some tremendous scenes here. Penny dealing with the man at the front gate. An impromptu duet of Celine Dion’s “It’s All Coming Back to Me Now” by Penny and Sofia. A banger of a soundtrack. The hilariously misplaced commitment of Rhodes to a bit near the end of the film. Honestly, there are enough memorable moments here to fill in a far better movie. If only this one had found a way to get from point A to point B without feeling lost in the woods.
The cast does what they can to make things work. Eric Dane’s take on Bell certainly feels like it’s taking place in a more interesting story. Ray Nicholson makes interesting choices at every turn with his delusional antagonist. Some of them pay off bigger than you expect. Alba Baptista plays Penny as being completely out of her mind in a way that brings energy to the picture. Jimmie Fails deadpans some very funny moments as his reluctant hero gets stuck in a strange situation. And Samara Weaving is Samara Weaving. Great even when she isn’t given much to work with. That may be the best way to describe Borderline. A movie that finds extreme highs with a story that seems to be working against it.
Scare Value
There are some truly inspired moments in Borderline. Bell makes for a fascinating character. Ray Nicholson makes some interesting choices that pay off for him. Samara Weaving is always great…even when given too little to do. Unfortunately, those inspired moments can only take Borderline so far. It seems strangely unsure of itself too often to find a proper tone. You’re left waiting for the next fun idea to shake off the tedium of what comes in between.
2.5/5
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