SPEAK NO EVIL

Ben (Scoot McNairy), his wife Louise (Mackenzie Davis), and their daughter Agnes (Alix West Lefler) are Americans, living in London but vacating in Italy when they meet another English family: father Paddy (James McAvoy), wife Ciara (Aisling Franciosi), and their son Ant (Dan Hough). The 2 families really hit it off and stay in brief contact once going back to their normal lives. However, Ben decides to take Paddy up on his offer to come stay with them on their farm in the west part of the country after some difficulty with Ben's work. Once there though, the friendly English couple are not who they appeared to be in Italy and the Americans must find a way home without tipping off their hosts. This is a remake of a Danish film with the same name and while I didn't see the original, this is enjoyable although the story takes a great deal of time before Paddy and company reveal their true selves. A lot of time, perhaps too much, is spent developing the relationship between the 2 families with Paddy and his constantly but subtly pushing past Ben and his families boundaries. In order to not come off as rude, they simply brush these aside as no big deal to continue playing the grateful and polite guests. Although one important take away from the story is it does mention a few times about honesty and this plays a big role in the third act and one in which I believe we as a society have gotten away from. We flash fake smiles and lie in order to not hurt others feelings, instead of having open and honest dialogue. Doing so while still being polite is all in the delivery of the message but with the fragility amongst a great sector of our society, feelings over facts rule the day, which is an extremely slippery slope as it is impossible to please everyone and not hurt someone's feelings, no matter how good the intention is. McAvoy turns in one of his best performances to date as he seems to relish the freedom he's given with Paddy, who is the most impolite among them. 6/10