"All My Friends Hate Me" -- Movie Review

 

This week at The Tribeca Festival, I streamed the world premiere of the new U.K.  comedy-horror, “All My Friends Hate Me”.  

Synopsis

When a man attends a weekend-long birthday party celebration thrown by his friends, will they still be pals after things take some unexpected turns?

Story

Pete is eagerly looking forward to his birthday -- but only because it will be a party with his old college buddies held over the course of an entire weekend.  He hasn’t seen many of these folks in years, so he expects it’ll be a good time of catching up and re-connecting with everyone.  Pete’s girlfriend Sonia won’t be travelling with him initially, but plans to join him the next day.  After a long drive where he occasionally gets lost and encounters some odd situations, he finally reaches the countryside English Manor -- except no one’s there!  He waits hours for them to arrive.  Are they ghosting him?

Late that night, they finally arrive; after spending the evening at a pub in town, they bring back Harry, someone whom they met while out drinking.  Harry is a rather suspicious character -- at least as far as Pete is concerned.  Why is this stranger being brought in to celebrate Pete’s birthday?  And why did Pete’s friends think this was an appropriate thing to do?  Pete tries to shrug it off so as not to put a damper on the party, but he’s definitely feeling a bit of hostility coming from Harry. 

 

In a tete a tete with one of his closer allies, Pete confesses that things are going so well with Sonia that he’s planning on proposing to her.  He cautions Pete about Claire not finding out about this; Claire, one of the guests at this party, is Pete’s ex-girlfriend and she went through a difficult period when the two broke up.  As the weekend continues, Sonia finally arrives -- and by this time, Pete is especially glad to see her because he feels as though the people holding this party have been throwing quite a bit of shade at him the entire time.  On the night of the big party, Pete is infuriated when his “friends” make things extremely weird.  Can their friendship survive the night after this perceived transgression?  

  

Review

If you like quirky comedies with an element of horror, “All My Friends Hate Me” might be a good choice.  Despite the comedy (or, perhaps, because of it), it can be quite uncomfortable to watch; add to that the horror/thriller portions, and the movie could potentially make you rather anxious as well.  It’s something of an intense mix at times -- especially in the last act -- so be prepared for that if you intend on watching this film.  You don’t know if it’s appropriate to laugh or not in certain scenes because you aren’t quite sure what’s coming next. 

The characters, as written and performed, are well-defined and clear in their individual personas.  Stourton does a particularly good job in his role of Pete as he becomes gradually unravelled as the weekend proceeds and his perceived slights only serve to make him increasingly incensed.  What adds to the mysterious nature of these scenes is that it appears as though the characters are deliberately trying to gaslight Pete.  Are they in fact trying to do that or is it Pete’s paranoia (or narcissism) that leads him to believe this?  One must really hang in there to figure out which one is happening in subsequent scenes.

Following the screening, there was an interview with the filmmakers:  Director Andrew Gaynord, screenwriter Tom Palmer and star Tom Stourton (who also co-wrote the screenplay).  Palmer said that the manor in which the story took place was also where the cast and some of the crew stayed during the entire three-week shoot.  Gaynord mentioned that the person who owned the house made dinner for the cast and crew every night; he was very welcoming and put everyone at ease.  Regarding the horror element of the story, Gaynord said that he was always conscious of doing things to keep the audience off-balance, including his choices for music.