Hugh Grant diabolically good as a villainous scholar in religious thriller ‘Heretic’
“Heretic” — 3 stars
At Wrigleyville’s Alamo Drafthouse Theaters during a Monday night screening of “Heretic,” nimble and unobtrusive staffers swept through the audience, asking about allergies.
Moments later, generous slices of heavenly scented blueberry pie seemed to magically materialize on our food trays.
All perfectly timed to coincide with Hugh Grant’s character, the insidious Mr. Reed, insisting that his two young visitors simply must sample his wife’s delicious, fresh-baked blueberry pie.
His guests, Sister Paxton (Chloe East) and Sister Barnes (Sophie Thatcher), can smell the alluring fruity aroma wafting through the living room. Of course, they will try the pie, maybe.
I postponed my pie gratification until after the movie because I’ve seen Shakespeare’s “Titus Andronicus.”
But I digress.
Sister Paxton and Sister Barnes open this chatty, slow-fused, religiously nerdy thriller on a park bench, curiously discussing condom sizes and brands, tipping us off that they are not the sheltered youth generally associated with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Actually, Paxton seems to be extremely naive and impressionable. Barnes emanates toughness and intelligence. She possesses a keen B.S. detector that will come in handy very soon.
The two missionaries eventually arrive at the door to a slightly foreboding house belonging to Mr. Reed, a most pleasant chap warmly greeting them and insisting that it’s OK to come in, as his wife is in the kitchen and will join them shortly.
(Spoiler alert! She doesn’t.)
Once the missionaries settle in to discuss the Bible, Jesus, Joseph Smith and world religions with the fiercely knowledgeable Reed, co-directors Scott Beck and Bryan Woods (writers of “A Quiet Place”) turn Grant into a congenial spider that has us — along with his guests — in his tightly crafted web.
With a literal captive audience (all doors locked), Reed launches into scholarly tirades about phony world religions, attempting to persuade his visitors to admit that they are little more than traveling sales agents for organizations pushing bogus beliefs for profit.
He keeps referring to the “one, true religion” he has discovered, a belief system he later reveals, and it eerily doubles as a metaphorical indictment of our political times.
A game enthusiast who loves Monopoly, Reed presents Paxton and Barnes with a faith test. He shows them two doors, one labeled “BELIEF,” the other “DISBELIEF.” If they choose correctly, they can leave, says the man who just lied about his nonexistent spouse.
They agree to choose a door and wind up witnessing just how crazed the obsessive Reed has become, for he has constructed a virtual game of horrors in his house, built with automatic locks, cellphone signal-blocking rooms, and its own twisty twin dungeons.
“Heretic” works as a study in obsession, executed by a pitch-perfect Grant peeling off never-ending layers of villainy like a human onion.
But Thatcher and East rise up to be equal matches for him as two worthy and resistant foils with a few surprises up their missionary sleeves.
(Don’t blink or you’ll miss a barely recognizable Topher Grace dropping by to check on his flock.)
Granted, some narrative roads dead-end in “Heretic,” which presents Reed as an imaginative and detailed planner, a grand designer on a game board the size of his house and basements.
Experienced thriller fans should have little difficulty predicting what happens at the end, because of some clunky and obvious foreshadowing. (Come on, Beck and Woods, your audience is smarter than this.)
Oh, I almost forgot about the blueberry pie at the Alamo Drafthouse. It was yummy.
But I’ll never eat it again without suffering flashbacks to Hugh Grant’s condescending evil grin in a movie that gives new meaning to the phrase “faith-based” films.
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Starring: Hugh Grant, Sophie Thatcher, Chloe East, Topher Grace
Directed by: Scott Beck, Bryan Woods
Other: An A24 theatrical release. Rated R for violence. 110 minutes.