'What Comes Around' is a cautionary drama in thriller clothes

SALT LAKE CITY (KUTV) — What Comes Around
2.5 out of 5 Stars
Director: Amy Redford
Writer: Scott Organ
Starring: Grace Van Dien, Summer Phoenix, Kyle Gallner
Genre: Drama, Thriller
Rated: Not Rated

SALT LAKE CITY (KUTV) – Studio Synopsis: A young love affair becomes a menacing game of cat and mouse where nothing is what it seems in this immersive thriller.

Review: We’ve seen our share of films with plots that revolve around internet relationships and the seemingly inevitable difficulties that arise when one, if not both, of the romantics attempts to move beyond FaceChat and texts and enter the physical world. Sometimes it is the distance and relative safety that allows the relationship to exist in the first place.

“What Comes Around” sees Anna (Grace Van Dien), a suburban teenager, involved with Eric (Kyle Gallner), a man in his twenties. It’s flirtatious, but virtual. He complements her poetry, and she feels seen in a way that no one else seems to see her.

When Eric shows up on her doorstep, the relationship changes dramatically. What seemed innocent now feels dangerous. How Anna reacts sets up, but doesn’t exactly define, the film’s narrative.

The first act is shot like a thriller threatening to stray into the horror genre. Director Amy Redford plays up the horror aspects, giving the audience cues before pulling the carpet out from beneath them. This establishes a sense of tension that is heightened by the fact that the film refuses to give the audience what they expect. What feels inevitable is delayed and delayed again. It is as if Redford and writer Scott Organ are teasing the viewer. You think you know how this plays out.

“What Comes Around” is ambitious. It plays coy despite knowing exactly where it wants to steer the narrative. It works until somewhere in the middle before devolving into a overly convoluted story that colapses under the weight of its many ideas. It’s a shame because if “What Comes Around” was as interested in exploring its themes as it is in misdirecting the audience it could have said something. Maybe even something profound.

To avoid spoilers, I’ll simply say that the facetime and phone calls that come early in the film are the only moments where I was emotionally involved. By the end of the film, decisions made by the characters turned my empathy for them into apathy. Characters need to be sympathetic if they want sympathy.

The amiable cast is never really given any time to develop chemistry. I don’t think the narrative can be what it wants to be unless I, the viewer, wants something desperately that I shouldn’t want at all. Or, at the very least, understand why a character wants something they shouldn’t want. Something more akin to William Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet,” Lone Scherfig’s “An Education,” or Celine Song’s “Past Lives.” Can it do that and still be a thriller? I think so.