NOW IN THEATERS! The irrepressible Sam Raimi’s Send Help is a dynamic thriller/revenge fantasy that will satisfy your blood lust and confirm what you suspect about life as a female corporate cube rat. Linda (Rachel McAdams) works in strategy and planning at a family-owned company, where she’s been a faithful worker bee for 17 years. When the beloved owner and CEO dies, the dynasty continues with his repugnant, sexist son, Bradley Preston (Dylan O’Brien), stepping into his father’s shoes, and it becomes clear that he means to run the company as a boys’ club. Linda was promised a VP position by the elder Preston, but Bradley gave the job to his friend instead. When Linda pushes back, he wants to fire her, but he’s advised by one of the old heads (Dennis Haysbert) that she has managed all the financials and can’t be replaced. Bradley suggests she can prove herself to him on a trip to Bangkok for a company merger. In fact, he has no intention of promoting her, but he needs her for the meeting.
When the corporate jet crashes into the ocean, the only two survivors are Linda and Bradley, who has a serious injury to his leg. They are washed up on a small island, and the real fun begins. Bradley can’t walk, but Linda, who is obsessed with the Survivor reality show and takes self-sufficiency vacations in the wilderness, has the skills and willpower to stay alive in the tropical environment. She saves Bradley by providing shelter, water, and food as he recovers from his injury. It becomes clear that Linda has found her best self here, and she does not want to leave. Bradley is drastically out of his element, and this is hell for the soft, entitled frat boy. The two go back and forth, sometimes working together and other times adversaries.
“When the corporate jet crashes into the ocean, the two survivors are Linda and Bradley…“
As the drama plays out, the feud turns bloody, and Raimi shows his true colors (red) in the gore, puke, death, and mayhem that ensues. Bradley uses his refined skills as a narcissistic manipulator (more than once) to convince Linda that he’s seeing things her way, just long enough to betray her. Linda keeps secrets that give the third act some wild twists and turns. This film makes The War of the Roses look like a practice run. The script touches upon themes of discrimination in “gendered labor,” the farce that the American dream has become, and has a nice callback to Misery.
Rachel McAdams delivers here, with Dylan O’Brien serving as her worthy sparring partner. McAdams goes from crushed, disappointed church mouse to confident, deadly woman with a hunger for payback by the time we reach the denouement. Once Linda has fully blossomed into the badass survivalist she always knew she could be, she’s hardly recognizable, and not to be f****d with.
O’Brien is convincing as the a*****e boss you’ve likely had if you’ve been in corporate life. The actor in interviews seems likable, but as Bradley Preston, he’s loathsome and evokes such raw rage in his mistreatment of Linda that you cheer for his many misfortunes. There is one particularly squirm-inducing scene involving a rat that you won’t soon forget. If you haven’t had to suffer under the lash of a corporate manager, then ask a friend. That part is not exaggerated, particularly for nepo-baby executives.
It is disconcerting that the character is named “Bradley.” However, with so many Bradleys in the world, they’re just not all going to be winners. Send Help is a brilliant, startlingly gory dark comedy. Sam Raimi still has that old magic.
Learn more at the official Send Help website.
"…brilliant, startlingly gory dark comedy."
