• Release year: 2026
• Director: Sam Raimi.
• Producers: Zainab Azizi, Sam Raimi, and Adam Friedlander.
• Screenplay by: Damian Shannon and Mark Swift.
• Cinematography by: Bill Pope.
• Music by: Danny Elfman.

Shotgun Commentary: completely unoriginal but low-key satisfying to watch.

Review

Send Help is a survival movie that is hard to watch and even harder to love. Does that make it a horrible movie? Not at all, but it is certainly not a movie I’ll be re-watching any time soon.

The story follows Linda (Rachel McAdams). She is a proficient worker who is completely ignored by everyone because she does not put much effort into her looks and… honestly? She is a little weird. Not the kind of weird that you can pinpoint exactly. But the kind that makes you want to be kind to her. You know, just in case one day she snaps and brings a gun to work.

That day comes when her boss dies and his successor, his son Bradley (Dylan O’Brien), promotes a useless man instead of Linda, who by all means deserves that promotion way more. However, no guns are brought into the office. Instead, she gives Bradley her version of an earful—a very pitiful complaint delivered with awkwardness and insecurity—which secures her a spot on a work trip.

A good old collage

When the place goes down and everyone but Linda and Bradley dies, they are left stranded on a beach with nothing but Linda’s survival skills to keep them alive. This is the point where everything becomes a copy of previous works.

The initial beef between them about who is more useful and who is in charge is a carbon copy of Alex’s and Marty’s beef in Madagascar (2005). Not to mention that the whole insanely predictable premise comes straight out of Love Wrecked (2005). So it seems like most of this movie relies on audiences having a memory span of twenty years tops. Sadly, if that’s the case, you can always rely on the third act of Triangle of Sadness (2022) to remind you of what it is all about.

I have tried to gaslight myself into believing that this movie truly has something new to say. But it is hard to come up with positive things to say about it. In fact, the only upside that I can bring to the table is its third act, which, against all odds, is actually satisfying and well away from the usual endings that demonise the act of revenge.

Still, the movie falls into making the same mistake it criticises. Namely, casting Rachel McAdams as an ugly woman. Remember that ridiculous 80s move when the guy removes the glasses and ponytail of an “ugly” girl only to discover that—*cue gasp*—she was beautiful all along? Well, glasses aside, this film does exactly the same.

The fine line between critique and repetition

Firstly, you cannot sell Rachel McAdams as ugly. Not after her whole career has been spent being cast as the love interest or the protagonist in romcoms. Secondly, is she supposed to now be ugly because she eats tuna sandwiches and her hair is naturally curly instead of perfectly styled? Or is it because she is “not wearing” any makeup?

Sure, it could potentially be read as a critique if you squint really hard, but the more obvious reading is a perpetuation of ridiculous stereotypes that the patriarchy forces on women. E.g., having to spend three hours on your hair every morning so your naturally curly hair will look like a Pantene commercial and another hour and a half on painting your whole face to look “natural” but also absolutely flawless. NOBODY does that.

Also, no woman wants to waste five hours and thousands of dollars on makeup just to be accepted in society. It is a toxic ideal still perpetuated by films, no matter how feminist they try to be. Sure, you can justify it as the satire of the bro mentality and how they only see women when they are wearing pumps, tight dresses, makeup and a salon blowout, but the fact that she actively chooses this image in the end even though she does not actually need to kind of spoils the message.

All in all, Send Help is completely unoriginal, way too cringe for comfort, and sure, not awful, but pretty damn close. You will witness tonnes of good-for-her moments, but much like Cinderella, the ultimate message is that all women are just hiding their innate desire to be pretty and cutesy for men to admire them.

Advice to take from this movie:

• Do not expect your life to improve just because you work hard. Life is not fair.
• Looks are still everything. Do not let anyone fool you.
• Watching trash TV can save your life some day.

What’s your take? Have you watched Send Help? Don’t hesitate to let me know your thoughts in the comments section below, or leave a message on my contact page! For more reviews and cinema-related articles, check out the rest of my blog! 😀