'The Gift' review: An admirable effort

Ratings: ***1/2

Cast: Jason Bateman, Rebecca Hall, Joel Edgerton

Director: Joel Edgerton

Language: English
Well, good for Joel Edgerton. An established actor already, his writing and directorial debut, The Gift, is a commendable stab at a genre that was the stock of the 90s — the psycho stalker, and attempts to give it an interesting play. It manages to subvert the formulaic tropes and works brilliantly as an edge-of-theseat slow burner, but undoes all its refined set-up with an unnecessary and cruel conclusion.

The first and second act establish that Simon (Bateman) and Robyn (Hall) are an upwardly mobile couple with the prefect life who relocate to Los Angeles, his hometown, lured by a new job and a lovely home in the Hollywood Hills. A success story by all measures. But then follows an uncomfortable run-in with one of Simon’s high school acquiantance, Gordon ‘Gordo’ Moseley (Edgerton’s creepy redhead with goatee), who obsessively gloms on to them and keeps dropping by with extravagant gifts and essentially forces them to ‘break-up’ with him.

Things get complicated because then comes the realisation that Simon and ‘Gordo the Weirdo’ have a troubled history and Gordo may still be holding on to the remnants of those long-ago events. In this wickedly engaging story, what Edgerton has managed to achieve is refusing to present obvious heroes and villains. Choosing a side would be taking the easier way out, but as every layer unfolds, the viewer toggles between Simon and Gordo, and attempts to align with the lesser of the two sociopaths fail with Bateman’s and Edgerton’s genuine and elevated performances.

With interesting cinematography that uses shots from Gordo’s vantage point of the couple’s home, and clean editing that swells and ebbs well, the film is an admirable freshman effort for Edgerton. Where it disappoints though, is the third act which is contrived just for that final gut punch and fleeting shock value.