Creatures of Necessity is a weird film. At first, it’s a cringe-inducing example of how actors shouldn’t act and how a movie needs more than cookie-cutter characters to get through its story. From the inane plot to the college-play-level performances, I was sure the film was doomed to be a boring and mediocre ride. Then, at some point, things get a little interesting and before you know it, everything comes crashing down again.

Isabella, a former actor, is tied to a chair 13 days into her kidnapping. The trio of amateur criminals who are out to get ransom money start arguing with each other and it introduces the tropes to the audience. Nitro is the aggressive hothead who’s secretly insecure; Platinum is a pseudo-intellectual who speaks most of his sentences like they’re lines in a college poem; and Diamond is the nervous, level-headed one doing his best impression of Thomas Middleditch.

Within the first few minutes, Isabella looks at the camera to deliver some fourth-wall-breaking lines about fragile male egos and stereotypes. It was that moment that nailed down the film-student-project feel of the entire movie.

Mindy Gilkerson as Isabella is the only decent actor in the first half of the movie as it stumbles along its plot of how the kidnapping will be resolved, since the ransom money didn’t come in and the criminals argue about what to do next. 

While the performances in the movie range from average to bad, the real issue is the script. The writer clearly wants to include their social commentary on top of what is a bargain-bin-level idea and at this point, I think the general audience is past the point of needing bad movies that try to make statements on race and gender roles. Isabella is meant to be an empowered character by the end, but the execution is just confusing and sloppy.

The one positive this movie has going for it is that around halfway through, a character called The Prince shows up to clean up the mess -- like Harvey Keitel in Pulp Fiction. The Prince turns the plot on its head for a while, which temporarily promises to go in an interesting direction, but it comes to a hard stop after a while and collapses in on itself. 

There are moments of unintentional humor in Creatures of Necessity, but I wouldn’t say it’s worth a watch. If you’re someone who engages in “bad movie night” with friends, then this is worth looking at, but otherwise not.

Author Bio:

Ulises Duenas is a senior writer at Highbrow Magazine.

For Highbrow Magazine