Leonard (Elliot Gould) is an eighty-eight year old man, who has lived in the same house, all by himself, for his entire life. Just months ago, he hired a caretaker, Katie (Camilla Mendes), and more recently a groundskeeper, Katie’s husband Adam (Jessie T. Usher), to help make life a bit easier for him. With no notice, Katie finds Leonard dead, of natural causes, in his home. Unbeknownst to Katie, Leonard had also recently hired a lawyer to draw up a last will and testament. The will states that every one of Leonard’s possessions now belongs to Katie. As life begins to change for Katie, she will become tangled in a series of webs that leave her wondering what is true and what are Dangerous Lies. She must question everyone around her, even those closest to her.
As mystery/thrillers become more and more popular, audiences become more adept at figuring out what is going on before the writer and/or director’s great reveal. I imagine that as a writer and/or director in Hollywood, creating films that legitimately keep things hidden from audiences is becoming more and more difficult. Writer David Golden and director Michael M. Scott appear to be part of the group that struggles to keep certain things from audiences. Dangerous Lies, while intriguing, struggles at times to leave some aspects of the story hidden. It becomes obvious, early, who the real threat is, who is involved in the deceit going on behind the scenes, making it hard for audiences to accept the mystery aspect of the film. If you can accept the film as less of a mystery and more along the lines of a murder/thriller, the story is incredibly interesting (and still provides minimal twists and turns throughout the course of the film).
There are aspects of Dangerous Lies that remain hidden from audiences, however, they stay hidden to audiences through the end of the film. There are at least two pieces of the puzzle that are ultimately never explained to the audience, making these details appear extraneous and unnecessary. Having such details makes it difficult to appreciate the writing to some degree. Why include pieces of a mystery that are never solved or have no relevance? Even though they mean nothing and, as a result, play no role in the overall story, it is a bit aggravating to know that parts of the puzzle I tried to solve were just a waste of time.
What saves the film, and adds a little mystery, is how convincing Mendes is. Her precise facial expressions and her toned reactions help carry the story of deceit and “mystery.” She is fun when necessary, sad when the script calls for it and charismatic from beginning to end. Opposite Mendes is Usher, who, while trying his best, often misses the mark. While he is far from terrible, he lacks the necessary expression necessary to carry himself. What Usher’s deficiencies do, however, is provide more clarity of the fact that Mendes is a star. She manages to, while he fails to hit the mark, carry them both and provide him the ability to, many times throughout Dangerous Lies, appear above average.
It is hard to appreciate a mystery/thriller that contains useless information to throw audiences off and fails to provide adequate mystery. Dangerous Lies misses the mark to some degree as these are serious flaws. I believe the premise is solid, but Scott and Golden’s delivery is all wrong. They find themselves tangled in their own web of lies and struggle to remove themselves long enough to provide clarity to their audiences. Understand that most of the mystery will become clear early on, and that some aspects of Dangerous Lies will ultimately turn out disappointing as it is just the cast and crew lying to us. However, try to appreciate what is done in terms of story and Mendes’ acting ability. Dangerous Lies is currently available to stream on Netflix.
Directed by Michael M. Scott. Written by David Golden. Starring Camila Mendes, Jessie T. Usher, Elliot Gould, Sasha Alexander, Jamie Chung, etc.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/10
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