Inconceivable (2017) Directed by Jonathan Baker




This thriller weirdly enough lacks the right tone and approach to ever work out as an either tense or surprising enough thriller. It actually in fact remains a very weak and predictable one all throughout, making this a very ineffective genre attempt.

The entire movie has a sort of made-for-TV look and approach to it. Everything is bright, colorful and happy and the movie most certainly never becomes gritty or violent, either visually or with any of its themes. It is an incredibly tame movie, that besides attempts nothing new.

I mean, come on! The whole babysitter from hell angle has been done countless of times already and this movie truly brings absolutely nothing new to the table and it never even attempts to do so. Quite amazing this movie ever got green-lighted and stars the likes of Gina Gershon, Nicolas Cage and Faye Dunaway in it. Especially Cage feels wasted. Not that he is ever really a great actor, but he plays such an incredibly bland and meaningless role in this movie that I kept scratching my head, wondering why he even ever agreed to appear in this movie. And not trying to discriminate against age, but Cage and Gershon are both past their 50's, yet they play young new parents in this movie. They both still look young enough, but at the same time is still feels a bit weird and unconvincing as well. The whole movie seems weirdly cast, with Nicky Whelan also terribly out of place as a supposedly psychotic and dangerous woman. It doesn't ever work out, not even during the more thriller like sequences of the movie.

The movie fails to ever properly build up any good tension or mystery for the movie. Basically everything gets revealed already in the very first scene of the movie, so there is never any doubt about anything. You already know everything that is going to happen next and indeed, the movie plays out by the numbers, but without handling any of its thriller elements in an effective enough way. The whole tone and atmosphere of the movie feels off, like you are watching a lame family drama from the Hallmark channel, instead of suspenseful thriller.

I honestly can't think of any good reason why anyone should ever watch this movie. There are no redeeming qualities in it and it handles everything in a far too tame and unsurprising way. It for most part also remains a very uneventful movie, with mostly just characters talking to each other and bonding, even though you already know in advance where everything is heading at.

Can't believe this movie even ever made it to some cinemas, in some countries. It is more like a TV movie, both visually as well as story-wise. Terribly bland, mundane and far from exciting, engaging or original to watch. Just skip it.

4/10

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