Bodies Bodies Bodies

A line in Shaun of the Dead always stuck with me. It's the scene when everyone is losing it in the bar and we get the reveal that Shaun's mom was bitten. It's a great scene but his mom's last words (or close to her last words, I don't wanna relive that scene right now) are, "It's been a funny sort of day, hasn't it?" are just perfectly sad and wonderful for their situation. Oftentimes when I have a "catastrophe day," I'll think to myself It's been a funny sort of day, hasn't it? No, nothing bad happened today, it just popped into my head. For day 17, let's talk about...

Bodies Bodies Bodies (2022)

A group of young, attractive and stupid people are riding out a hurricane inside Pete Davidson's dad's mansion. They're going to occupy themselves by partying with a whole lot of drugs and alcohol. We don't get to learn too much about them, which is kind of the point. The more you follow these people around, you realize there's not much to learn about them. They're all skin deep, completely absorbed with their social status and being locked into the internet. They seem to be friends based solely on how they can benefit the other. They're all just shallow and inconsiderate people.

Also, I'm not familiar with Davidson because I don't watch SNL, outside of his controversies with Congressman Dan Crenshaw (I thought the hitman in every porno line funny) and I don't know how I feel about him. I'm sorry, but SNL is junk. As far as Davidson, he was kind of compelling in this. He was a big asshole, but he was the only person able to see through everyone before he meets his end. He's also responsible for my favorite scene; he and another girl are about to do cocaine and she asks him to hold her giant sucker she's been working on for some time. He immediately puts it in his mouth and you hear a loud crunch, and eats the whole thing within seconds. It's such a dick move but hilarious.

To pass the time in between taking their lines, they decide to play the game "Bodies Bodies Bodies." It's a murder/mystery game and after the first round, everyone is at each other's throats. It gets intense and heated as everyone accuses each other and ends with a fight between Davidson and his girlfriend and everyone picks him out of spite. Davidson storms off and the game kind of peeters out after that. The main character, Bee, goes wandering and comes across a dying Davidson with his throat slashed. The group then starts to believe that they're all trapped in this house with a murderer. From there, the side eyes and accusations come so fast and furious that Vin Diesel would be proud. All this as the bodies (Bodies Bodies) keep dropping.

When the movie ended I was disappointed, but the more I let it marinate, I understood what the director was going for. The director said for Gen Z, especially the chronically online crowd, if you take away the cell phones and WiFi, it's like taking away their oxygen. They become feral. They don't talk to each other, they accuse one another and don't talk like adults, they use what she called "trauma-centered" words like "gaslight," "trigger" and "toxic." The characters need to be the focus at all times. At one point, during one of the many, "You did it! No, you did it!" moments one of the girls tries to strengthen her argument by saying "Feelings are facts." As a Millennial I understand Gen Z isn't how it gets painted by the public at large, but this movie fits the extreme of the generation to a T.

I can imagine the reveal would be upsetting to some, but I think it makes the most sense. These people are so wrapped up in themselves, they can't even talk to one another. I won't say what the reveal is as far as the killer goes, but I will say it's funny to think about how each death happened. Outside of Greg, there's not a sympathetic person in the group, although you could make a case for Bee. Greg's death made me sad and it's the one thing that's stuck with me that I can't shove away. I try to rationalize it by telling myself that it's the same actor who played Thranduil in The Hobbit movies and I've never liked that character; movie or book. Lousy opportunist, demanding treasure after doing nothing to help, doing everything to hinder the expedition and then showing up after the dragon is dead. Bard, I get, he deserves some of the treasure, but Thranduil can fuck right off. My dislike aside, Greg may have been the only likable character in the whole movie.

Before I go, one more idle thought. When making the movie, the director asked the cast what songs were on their playlists so she could have an authentic soundtrack of what people that age, at this time, listen to. I have to say, these people have TERRIBLE taste in music. Call me an old man all you like, but man, it's bad.