James McAvoy gives Jack Nicholson a run for bad dad in domestic thriller ‘Speak No Evil’
“Speak No Evil” — 3 stars
The most chilling element to be found in James Watkins’ ultra-slow-fuse, bleakly comic thriller “Speak No Evil” hits with a force more brutal than a hammer claw.
A victimized family asks the logical question: “Why are you doing this?”
And their persecutors succinctly reply with icy detachment: “Because you let us.”
Yep, that weaponized piece of dialogue reveals that “Speak No Evil” won’t be preaching the gospel of patient politeness as a defense against social discomfort or conflict.
Nope, Watkins’ movie — an Americanized remake of Danish filmmaker Christian Tafdrup’s 2022 film fest fave — presents a cautionary warning about us being too nice for our own good.
Or here, for the good of a family on vacation in Italy.
Ben and Louise (Scoot McNairy and Mackenzie Davis) and their 11-year-old daughter Agnes (Alix West Lefler) don’t appear to be enjoying their Italian adventure much. That abruptly changes with the arrival of Paddy (James McAvoy) and wife Ciara (Aisling Franciosi), a chatty, charged-up couple who find infectious fun in everything they do, admirably including their non-talking, emotionally distant son, Ant (Dan Hough).
They become fast buds with fuddy-duddy Ben and reserved Louise. The personable and persuasive Paddy insists they should visit his farmhouse in rural England. Dismal, never-ending rain in London convinces Ben and Louise to later take up Paddy’s offer.
Off they go with Agnes into a land of extra-large red flags.
Why does Ciara look like a teenager? Why does her “home” resemble a dilapidated World War 1 bunker? The bedsheets seem to be soiled. Why does Ant (nothing demeaning about that name …) have bruises all over his body?
At every new warning sign — even when Agnes must share a bedroom with Ant — wimpy Ben suppresses his internal alarms and concerned Louise capitulates to his fear of appearing to be an ungrateful guest.
Had “Speak No Evil” opened in Chicago’s storied Woods Theater in the Loop, viewers would be shouting in unison, “Get outta there, fool!” at the screen.
This study in poor parenting takes sadistic fun in watching adults allow social decorum to overrule self-preservation. And they surrender to the whims of a child, even if it means endangering their lives.
Watkins — faring better here than in his stuffy horror tale “Woman in Black” — takes a leisurely approach to a familiar plot, working up to a full-tilt “Straw Dogs” scenario (the 1971 Sam Peckinpah version), with McAvoy slowly and expectantly ratcheting his inner control-freak up to a Jack Nicholson in “The Shining” level.
McAvoy will be deservedly praised for his seamless transition from good-time dude to psycho narcissist, his most insanely over-the-top performance since his splintered characters in M. Night Shyamalan’s “Split.”
It’s the sort of showy, overboard acting that naturally invites attention and praise.
(My 1978 interview with Hollywood leading man Gregory Peck confirmed this when he said, “Bob Mitchum wiped me off the screen (in ‘Cape Fear’) and I learned a lesson from that. The villains are the good roles. All these years I’ve been missing out on the good stuff!”)
Even If McAvoy provides the good stuff, the unsung star here has to be McNairy with his effortlessly empathetic, spot-on portrait of masculine insecurity. Fraught with indecision and immobilized by conflict — resulting in a poor marriage and saggy self-esteem — his protective male instincts barely kick in, prompting Louise to step up and become the surprise avenger, just as Dustin Hoffman was in “Straw Dogs.”
“Speak No Evil” isn’t particularly suspenseful or original. It goes exactly where we know it will go and even who will survive and who won’t.
But don’t underestimate the film’s timely moral to the story — a chilling reminder of what happens when good people fail to set and enforce boundaries for acceptable behavior.
That way nobody ever needs to ask, “Why are you doing this?”
Because you didn’t let them.
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Starring: James McAvoy, Mackenzie Davis, Scoot McNairy, Aisling Franciosi, Alix West Lefler, Dan Hough
Directed by: James Watkins
Other: A Universal Pictures release. Rated R for language, violence. 110 minutes