The predictable plot does not help matters, though a few surprises exist (I didn’t guess Mr. Pigeon would get poisoned). There’s a twist, if you will, about who is pulling on the strings that I correctly guessed two or three minutes into the film. There is just no way to account how the kidnap victims would react to any particular situation.
Now, all of this could have still worked if the movie felt driven by a cohesive vision, but alas, it does not. The movie’s presentation has been the present action of the kidnapping and trying to get ransom money, punctuated by flashbacks from different viewpoints to clarify how, when, and why things happened. Then the ending happens.
I will do my best not to spoil anything. As the film climaxes, a character has an out-of-body experience. The camera follows their apparition floating through halls, looking at each person connected to the kidnapping. This goes against the style of the movie and its filming gimmick. It is such a departure from the rest of the film’s direction, and it does not work within the context of the story or characters, that it is baffling that Solis thought it would work. Yes, all has been revealed by this point, but it still goes against the idea of why Claire was taken to start with.
“…not outlandish enough to be as effectively hilarious…nor is it clever…”
But, The Mentor is not without its good parts. The acting from all involved is excellent. As the director in a perilous situation, Sklar is fantastic. She jumps back and forth between tough willed and timid believably. When she explains why the original screenwriter of her film is not given credit, she almost sounds convinced of her thought process as well. It is one of the only times the absurd dialogue and the dire consequences of everyone’s actions gel into a comedic, heartfelt, intense moment.
Brandi Nicole Payne is lively and energetic as Nilah. Her freakout after her ear is cut off is fantastic, as her rage boils over, but she knows that she can only do so much to retaliate against the kidnappers. Bash is boorish and condescending as Mr. Owl, and he owns it, and almost makes it work. As the off-kilter Mrs. Hawk, Lockfield elicits the best laughs from the viewer, especially when she dejectedly proclaims that Mr. Owl took away her talisman. The cast is game for everything the throws their away, and they shine nicely.
The Mentor is not outlandish enough to be as effectively hilarious as Cecil B. Demented. Nor is it clever enough to pull off the meta-filming and succinct thrills of Dot The I. The cast try their darnedest, but the dialogue is more irritating than humorous, and the characters are too extreme to be a credible threat. But, the film presents precarious scenarios, rooted in reality, at every turn. This dichotomy does not gel and makes the experience of watching the movie more confusing than it is worth. Watch one of the other two films that inspired this instead.
"…plays out like the love child of Cecil B. Demented and Dot The I."
