An isolated mansion. A reunion between old college friends. A suitcase. The night before a wedding. Greg Jardin’s It’s What’s Inside brings together the elements of an effective sci fi/thriller with a bit of horror, putting his characters in a powder keg and lighting a match.
Shelby (Brittany O’Grady) and Cyrus (James Morosini) were college sweethearts. Years later, they’re living together and their relationship has stalled. While Shelby tries to find ways to mix things up and reconnect, Cyrus is content to maintain the routine. But Shelby is also hung up on following the life and career of Nikki (Alycia Debnam-Carey), one of their college friends who has built quite a following as an Instagram influencer. The social media obsession exacerbates Shelby’s insecurities and further opens the divide between her and Cyrus.
Another of their old pals, Reuben (Devon Terrell) is getting married tomorrow and years ago they all promised to spend one last night together in his mom’s large and eclectic mansion before his then-unknown wedding. Reuben’s fiancée will not be joining the festivities, but Dennis, Brooke, and Maya (Gavin Leatherwood, Reina Hardesty, Nina Bloomgarden) will. The only unknown is Forbes (David Thompson), who no one has seen in eight years. And then there’s a knock at the door.
As each member of the group is introduced, we quickly learn the things we need to know about them. Maya is a wanderer, with tales of world travel. Dennis is a trust fund bro who hasn’t grown up. Brooke is a party girl with a drug habit. While they all catch up, they wonder about Forbes. Reuben invited him but never got a response. They all recall the story of an incident from Freshman year and the clever style Jardin uses for this semi flashback sequence is funny and inventive. The girls tell the story the way old friends do, interrupting each other to add or correct key points, backing up to include forgotten details.
Then Forbes (David Thompson) arrives as mysteriously as he disappeared lo those many years ago. The rumor was he had gone out to Silicon Valley to take the tech world by storm. Now, he shows up at the door bearing an old suitcase and a grin. The prodigal gamemaster has returned, and he has a game to play.
It would spoil all the fun to share details of the game, what it is, or how it works. But suffice it to say, what follows is an increasingly funny, chaotic, and dizzying sequence of events that reveal some of their deepest secrets. Each experience and conversation renders them more vulnerable and wounded. (We’ll leave you to wonder whether these wounds are physical or emotional.) Forbes is a bit Loki, a sort of god of mischief. Is he motivated by evil? Or simply by a good time?
Jardin’s use of color and light heighten the viewing experience while helping the audience keep track of what’s going on. His experience in short films and music videos clearly helped hone this skill. Without some of these filmmaking tricks, it would be almost impossible to follow. Even with them, it is easy to get confused and a little bit lost. But it’s an entertaining genre movie that will undoubtedly become clearer with repeat viewings.
That is, if audiences are interested enough to watch it a second time. As funny and different as it is, there isn’t any real depth to any of the characters or their secrets. Some are surprising maybe, and if this were a real group of friends in the real world, there would be consequences for some of these revelations. But by the end we don’t know much more about anyone than we did when it started. Jardin squanders the potential for interesting, deeper conversations about things like social media obsession, dead-end relationships, and the lost feeling experienced by so many twenty-somethings.
And it all leads to a conclusion that certainly drew big praise and applause from the Sundance audience, which was an odd and surprising reaction since the injustice of it felt wholly unsatisfying.
That being said, It’s What’s Inside is a good time and a feature debut that shows Greg Jardin is a director with a lot of promise.
It’s What’s Inside premiered as part of the Midnight section as the 2024 Sundance Film Festival. Netflix acquired the film and will announce the release date soon.
