Now streaming on Netflix is the mystery thriller, It’s What’s Inside. Written and directed by Greg Jardin, the film stars Brittany O’Grady, James Morosini, Gavin Leatherwood, Nina Bloomgarden, and Alycia Debnam-Carey, and focuses on a collection of friends who play a mysterious and life-altering game.
In the movie, a group of old college friends gather together for a pre-wedding party. One of the friends – a tech whiz named Forbes – arrives a little later than everyone else and brings with him a suitcase.
The suitcase contains a game, which has been in development for five years. The game is something very unique and Forbes is keen to share it with his old pals.
After everyone agrees to take part, Forbes explains the finer details. This is a body-swapping game, which allows each player to mentally trade places with another friend.
Once everyone trades places, they can experience seeing life through a fresh set of eyes and a whole new perspective. The object of the game is then for each body-swapped player to guess who is in whose body in the ultimate game of ‘Guess Who?’.
At first, this all seems like a lot of fun and things get off to a good start. However, the body swapping creates various problems amongst the group, which is worsened when tragedy strikes.
Decent in places, and showcasing some interesting visual flourishes, as well as a few moments of genuine creativity, It’s What’s Inside is an interesting picture with an intriguing premise. The idea of a group of old friends swapping bodies has the potential for plenty of drama, and at times things pay off quite well.
On the surface, this isn’t a bad film and aspects of it work fine. If you give it a go, there is a strong chance you’ll be drawn in to the story and for the most part you’ll find yourself taken by what’s on offer.
And after a period of some dreadful Netflix movies as of late, I have to say it’s encouraging to see a film which is trying to think outside the box. It’s What’s Inside isn’t a cookie cutter picture and I applaud what it attempts to do, and how it attempts to do it.
However, while It’s What’s Inside is good at times, and I doubt anyone will inherently dislike it, this is ultimately a flawed film. It’s What’s Inside takes too long to get to where it needs to, with a significant plot point not kicking in until over halfway through the film, and it faffs around a bit too much at times.
The movie also includes a set of characters who aren’t particularly likeable. This is somewhat problematic when dealing with a body swap story, because it becomes difficult to really care about anyone or anything that’s happening on screen.
On the plus side, writer/director Greg Jardin brings a lot of flare to his picture and it’s clear he has something of value here. Jardin could have brought this story to life without any real thought or passion and this is clearly not the case.
It’s What’s Inside might not always hit the landing, and at times the pacing is a little all over the place, but this is certainly not due to Jardin not trying. As such, the film should be commended on what it attempts to do, rather than what it struggles with.
And in terms of what it attempts to do, It’s What’s Inside flips the concept of a mystery movie. It takes elements of a whodunnit?, aspects of a revenge thriller, and dashes of a twisted picture, mixes them together with some well-placed visuals and inspired editing choices and delivers something different.
Like it or not, the film does do its own thing and this is refreshing. It may not quite work, but I’m at least glad it tries.
While It’s What’s Inside is a bit all over the place and some may struggle with it, the film is better than the average Netflix offering. It takes some bold swings and tries out a few neat ideas and I like this very much.
OK, so it never quite won me over and I doubt it’ll completely win you over either, but significant parts of it are quite likeable. Approach the film as ‘flawed but trying’ and you might come away with an appreciation of what it sets out to do.
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