Review by
Eric Hillis
Directed by: John Lee
Starring: Ilana Glazer, Justin Theroux, Pierce Brosnan,
Gretchen Mol, Sophia Bush
Following the lead of Jordan Peele, Ilana Glazer is the latest
comic to make the transition from a successful TV comedy (Broad City) to a politically charged horror movie. Yet while Peele peppered his
horror movies with humour, Glazer and co-writer John Lee, who also
directs, play their genre debut with a straight face. I'm not familiar
with the duo's comic work, but if False Positive is any
indication, they have a lot to learn about how to craft an effective
horror movie.
Glazer takes the lead role of Lucy, who along with hubby Adrian (Justin Theroux) has been struggling to get pregnant. It's not what you know, it's who
you know, and Adrian pulls some strings to get his wife an appointment
with award-winning fertility expert Dr. John Hindle (Pierce Brosnan), his old college professor.
Hindle works his magic and soon Lucy finds herself up the junction. Not
only that but she's carrying twin boys and a separate girl. Trouble is,
Hindle determines it will be impossible for Lucy to give birth to all
three successfully, and so she's faced with a Sophie's Choice – abort
either the two boys or the girl. Ignoring the pleas to the contrary from
Hindle and Adrian, opts to keep the girl, even going so far as to name her
Wendy. But as the weeks roll on, Lucy begins to suspect all is not right
with the mysterious Dr. Hindle.
False Positive has the sort of setup that might have fuelled
a successful 1970s ABC Movie of the Week, and with a complete absence of
blood until its climax, it could almost slot into a prime time schedule.
With Glazer, Theroux, Brosnan and Gretchen Mol (channeling Louise
Fletcher as Hindle's overly familiar assistant) all doing good work here,
the movie gets by on the charms of its cast. Until, that is, the meat of
the plot kicks in.
While the audience is suspicious of Hindle for the simple reason that
we're fully aware that we're watching a horror movie and therefore he must
be a wrong 'un, there's no reason established as to why Lucy would develop
suspicions about his motivations. She seems to be going along with his
guidance until she witnesses him deliver a speech at an awards ceremony in
which he talks about how science is under threat from internet
misinformation and alternative practices. Well, he's not wrong is he? Yet
for some reason this speech makes Lucy question the man she's put in
control of her destiny.
Turning away from science, Lucy employs the services of Grace Singleton
(Zainab Jah), an African midwife who advises her clients to stay
away from traditional doctors. "Do you think a doctor knows a woman's body
better than she knows it herself?" she asks. Well, yes, a doctor does
indeed know a woman's body better than any woman who isn't herself a
doctor. That's literally their job! It's what they've spent seven years
studying for!
I'm not sure what Glazer and Lee are trying to say here, but
False Positive has a subtext that's a curious mix of
feminist and anti-vax propaganda. Midway through the film we're greeted to
an illustrative montage and an accompanying lecture that tells us about
various historical horrors visited upon women's bodies by men in the
medical field. The message seems to be that doctors and scientists
shouldn't be trusted by women because of the history of male dominance in
the field. Well, that's just great. It's bad enough that conservatives no
longer believe in science, but now an ignorance of science and a mistrust
of doctors is woke?
Let's just say you share the film's bizarre mentality in this regard – it
still doesn't work as a horror movie. Glazer and Lee structure their film
in an ass over elbow manner that doesn't so much keep us guessing as keep
us in a state of confusion. Lucy's suspicions peak not when she uncovers
some evidence but when she has a dream in which she sees Hindle and her
husband conspiring together. Wait, what? From this point on, we find
ourselves questioning whether everything Lucy subsequently experiences is
also playing out in her mind, but no, that's not the case. There are
moments – like Adrian disappearing into the shadows to investigate a noise
– that feel like they're thrown in just to remind the audience that we're
watching a horror movie, but they don’t actually amount to anything and
are never referenced at any later point.
Had Lee and Glazer filled us in on just what their heroine is being
subjected to here, it would have made for a far more suspenseful
experience. Instead we're left to blindly follow Lucy as she tries to
figure things out, but when the movie pulls a cheat as crude as having her
learn the truth in a fucking dream, any faith that we were in the hands of
competent storytellers quickly erodes.
Things reach a peak of ridiculousness with a revelation that requires us
to believe that a rich doctor who looks like Pierce Brosnan would have
trouble getting laid. To deploy a phrase used throughout the film, trying
to make sense of False Positive will give you a bad case of
'Mommy Brain'.
False Positive premiered at the
2021 Tribeca Film Festival. It will be released on Hulu in the US on June
25th. A UK/ROI release has yet to be announced.
