Not Recommended: The Gift by Joel Edgerton

The Gift Joel Edgerton review

What is it about: A couple, Simon (Jason Bateman) and Robyn (Rebecca Hall), move back from Boston to California after a stressful period. They encounter Gordo (Joel Edgerton), and old school friend of Simon. Gordo starts coming by, uninvited. Robyn doesn't seems to mind. But Simon who first pretend not to know Gordo so well, is suspicious, and irritated. Slowly Robyn finds out that the relationship between Simon and Gordo is much more distressing that her husband implied.
It is a movie about stalking, bullying, trust, and responsibility directed by Joel Edgerton.

Why I didn't like it:
Remember when Brad Pitt found Gwyneth head in a box? If that is an awesome ending in your book, watch The Gift. If it left a nasty taste in your mouth that an actress's only purpose to be in the film was to end up as collateral damage, skip it. 
This movie is not badly done, nicely shot, and well acted especially by Rebecca Hall. It is then bitter that her character is really not much use at all. First we have to believe the notion that when a weird man, with weird hair, a weird way of looking at her, suddenly appears at Robyn's door, she is alone in the house, she would invite him in and think he is harmless. I didn't buy it. Joel Edgerton plays Gordo  as way to creepy. It makes Robyn seem really stupid.
A few reviews mentioned the throw back quality of this movie, a Sleeping with the enemy kind of vibe. For me it was more that the movie literally lived under a rock. When subjects as bullying, homosexuality, using pills to rape women, are so much on the forefront of our discussions these past years, and a movie comes along that didn't march with the steps forward being taken, it just feels too old-fashioned and reactionary to be enjoyable.