It’s funny how breaking certain societal norms can seem worse than death. A series of events involving one family staying with another keeps getting weirder and weirder in writer/director James Watkins’ remake of the 2022 Danish film Speak No Evil, co-written with Christian Tafdrup and Mads Tafdrup (who wrote the original). The urge to not seem rude and just pick up and leave comes into play during the madness. I mean, I get it; I have a mother who has given off the impression many times that she would actually rather die than be embarrassed. It’s comical because I have a father who will break almost every norm and not have a care about it, so the two extremes have always fascinated me.
The story follows the Dalton family. Louise (Mackenzie Davis), Ben (Scoot McNairy), and their daughter Agnes (Alix West Lefler) are on vacation in London and by chance meet the wild and carefree couple of Paddy (James McAvoy) and Ciara (Aisling Franciosi), and their son Ant (Dan Hough). Paddy explains to the more conservative couple of Ben and Louise that Ant has a rare birth defect where his tongue did not grow to its full length, so he does not have the ability to speak.
Ant and Agnes become fast friends, while the two couples bond over avoiding a third extremely boring couple. Paddy uses the hilarious breaking of a norm by loudly asking the bores at dinner about which method they prefer to wipe their butts (fold or scrunch), causing them to be left alone while busting Ben, Louise, and Ciara up with laughter. Paddy and Ciara invite their new friends to visit their countryside home, and Ben, just having lost his job, convinces Louise that it’s just the kind of getaway that they need.
“…Paddy is so upset at the thought of them leaving without saying goodbye that things get progressively worse…“
Once the Daltons arrive at their strange new surroundings, Speak No Evil steadily builds the tension. Agnes has an uncomfortable sleeping area on the floor in Ant’s room. Louise, who’s a vegetarian, is pressured to eat the meat of the family pet. Paddy and Ciara reveal themselves to be exhibitionist swingers, and the final straw seemingly comes after finding someone in a bed where they shouldn’t be. The Daltons try to leave, but fate brings them back, and they can’t because Paddy is so upset at the thought of them leaving without saying goodbye that things get progressively worse to the point of a cat-and-mouse horror show.
McAvoy absolutely kills it as a jacked-up, charming, and manipulative character who is positively magnetic onscreen. He could easily be mistaken for Wolverine. Early on, Ben peers leeringly into a window and sees Paddy and Ciara dancing carefree in their underwear, matching the vibe McAvoy gives off. James seems to be having the time of his life, whether he’s screaming into the countryside void with Ben or acting out his spicy role-playing with Ciara in front of the Daltons. If the Academy had some balls, they would nominate McAvoy.
Kudos to Watkins for the stellar psychological tension that you could cut with a knife. Also, props to Davis and McNairy for their performances as a couple navigating through their own issues and power dynamics while dealing with the madness. I’ve loved them both ever since their time together on the underrated dramatic series Halt and Catch Fire, and they do an excellent job of bringing the uneasiness home here. The entire cast really nails it, with Hough also giving it his all despite not having a speaking part.
With the exception of another recent standout horror/thriller film, Strange Darling, this is the best tension-building that I’ve seen in quite some time. Even though McAvoy is the brightly shining star, it takes a large, cohesive team to make it all come together, and when it works like Speak No Evil does, pure nail-biting magic happens.
"…pure nail-biting magic..."
