For the life of me, I couldn’t remember the name of this film before the screening. I was telling my partner I was going to see Safe Place… or was it Stay Safe? It wasn’t turning up in any Google searches. “Rachel McAdams… you know… stranded on a desert island!” No! It’s Send Help! Which is actually a more accurate title for this Sam Raimi flick, considering what unfolds…
McAdams plays Linda (my name finally seems to be showing up in pop culture!), a super-smart yet awkwardly dorky corporate analyst. She talks to executives with leftover tuna salad at the corner of her mouth, cracks jokes that land flat, and is basically the overzealous co-worker you don’t really want to invite to karaoke.
Linda’s new boss, Bradley (Dylan O’Brien), is insufferable in a different way. Handsome, entitled, and totally a bro, he gives Linda’s much-deserved promotion to his goon of a frat brother, much to her dismay. To appease her, Bradley pretends he’ll give her one last chance to prove herself by bringing her to an important meeting in Thailand, fully intending to fire her right after.
But then the plane crashes into the ocean.
This is where Sam Raimi’s style really starts to kick in. Raimi knows we’re a little uncomfortable with dorky Linda, but he also knows no one likes an insufferable corporate bro. It’s hilariously gruesome to see Linda’s various office nemeses get their gory comeuppance as the plane goes down, leaving only Linda and Bradley as survivors on (yes) a deserted island.
It becomes clear that the injured and still-entitled Bradley (“I’m your boss!” he barks at one point) is completely useless in a survival situation, while Linda, an aficionado of the show Survivor, knows how to start a fire, build a shelter, and weave a sun hat out of fronds before the first sunset. It’s less a battle of the sexes than a battle of the social hierarchy. Linda grows more confident, almost luminous, in a situation where she has control, while Bradley becomes increasingly delusional (O’Brien has a delightful mad giggle that surfaces often), realizing that his supposed social standing means nothing when everything is literally stripped away.
Send Help is one of those gross-out horror movies that’s especially fun to see with a packed crowd. It’s twisty enough to deliver a few surprises (especially if you missed a similar film by Ruben Östlund a few years ago), and the chemistry between the two characters keeps you guessing about the ultimate outcome. I know I wasn’t the only one scream-laughing at certain moments. Just… don’t present me with a platter of chopped mango anytime soon.
