Credit: Netflix

After its successful world premiere at Sundance, Netflix acquired the rights to It's What's Inside, a move that, although understandable, is somewhat regrettable. Ideally, this film should be experienced in a crowded theater, surrounded by unsuspecting strangers, all collectively reveling in its bold, jaw-dropping twists and turns. Alternatively, it's best watched at home with your partner, if only to assess the resilience of your relationship.

Set against the backdrop of an intimate, all-gender bachelor party, It's What's Inside is a heart-stopping thriller that reunites a diverse group of college friends with intricately intertwined pasts. To reveal more about its premise would be to spoil the experience, given its daring surprises and the manner in which they're presented. Each is punctuated by uncanny reworkings of familiar classical melodies and vintage movie scores. In order to preserve this experience — and at the behest of Netflix's PR team — this review will withhold details until a later section, clearly demarcated, though not spoilery per se.

What's all the fuss about? Suffice it to say, it's a diabolically good time. Debuting writer/director Greg Jardin demonstrates a mastery of precision-crafted tension, and in doing so, crafts a ludicrous, metaphysical midnight romp that forces its ensemble to reexamine each other — and themselves — in unexpected ways. If you're looking for a thrilling ride, check out more entertainment news on https://computerstechnicians.com.

The Thrill Begins with Envy

The film takes around half an hour to fully reveal its premise to both the audience and the characters, laying the groundwork in the meantime. It commences with a young couple — the anxious, high-strung Cyrus (James Morosini) and the well-intentioned, nervous Shelby (Brittany O’Grady) — attempting, and failing miserably, to reignite their love life. The duo's overlapping, nonsensical arguments reveal more about their fractured relationship than straightforward exposition could hope to. Within seconds, Jardin establishes himself as a skilled dramatic storyteller who reimagines traditional conversations in innovative, captivating ways. 

The film's swift intensification of doubts and discord among its lead characters is reminiscent of an adrenaline surge, triggered by the couple's fiery dispute over the blonde wig Shelby dons at Cyrus's behest. This introduces a delicate racial undertone, which the film navigates with cringe-worthy yet sidesplitting subtlety — Cyrus is white, while Shelby is a mixed-race Black woman.

These simmering issues of race, body image, and jealousy reach a boiling point when Cyrus and Shelby attend the bachelor party. As soon as they arrive, they're bombarded by their group of college friends, who pry into their decision not to get married eight years into their relationship. This inquisition is led by Nikki (Alycia Debnam-Carey), a famous blonde influencer who frequently receives flirtatious public comments from Cyrus.

A palpable sense of unease pervades the atmosphere, though no one seems to acknowledge it, making for a captivating introduction to a friend group with more than a few secrets. Even seemingly ordinary conversations feel strained, as scenes of old friends reconnecting after years apart are infused with unspoken tensions. As each new revelation unfolds, you can't help but laugh in sheer delight at the film's remarkable ability to craft tension in unique ways.

A Hidden Catalyst Drives the Plot of It’s What’s Inside

Reunion stories often thrive when they involve a sense of absence. Films like Lawrence Kasdan’s The Big Chill and Rahul da Cunha’s play Class of ’84 center on classmates reuniting after an old friend’s passing, while Robert Altman’s Come Back to the 5 & Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean follows old pals meeting to reminisce about the late actor James Dean. It’s What’s Inside takes a similar approach, establishing a complex history that the characters must confront.

Once Cyrus and Shelby arrive, they're greeted by Nikki and her charming former flame Reuben (Devon Terrell) — the groom — along with Reuben’s secret stoner crush Maya (Nina Bloomgarden), his boisterous, trust-fund bestie Dennis (Gavin Leatherwood), and their artist friend Brooke (Reina Hardesty). Together, they speculate about the whereabouts of the eighth and final member of their group, Forbes (David Thompson), who hasn’t been seen in years. As they recall the hazy details of his college expulsion after a drunken incident, their memories take the form of a magnificently funny Rashomon-esque sequence adapted for the age of Instagram. Picture after picture of a fateful party from eight years ago appears across the screen, with each recollection altering the details ever so slightly, as though the characters’ collective memory were an iPhone camera roll.

Jardin's frenzied social media collages, paired with his lightning-fast, back-and-forth cuts between characters, create a pulse-racing rhythm. However, his new media-inspired aesthetic takes on a comically literal form when Forbes makes his formal entrance, enigmatic green briefcase in hand. His friends describe him as a tech-savvy individual, and Thompson's striking resemblance to Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, whose uncanny public persona he embodies with remarkable ease, may have contributed to his casting.

On the surface, Facebook is about preserving moments in perpetuity, and Jardin's ingeniously humorous visual approach to capturing memories and relationships injects each scene with vitality, even when it appears that nothing significant is unfolding. In reality, something is usually transpiring, but the pieces only coalesce in retrospect, much like during scenes in which the camera (courtesy of cinematographer Kevin Fletcher) zooms into negative space, only to be filled in unexpected ways.

Rarely has a debuting director crafted a film that feels so deliberate in its visual chaos, bringing to the fore a lingering sense of unease from beneath the seemingly mundane. The eye-catching production design undoubtedly contributes; Reuben hosts his party at the opulent mansion he inherited from his mother, transforming it into a getaway destination replete with harsh, monochromatic lighting — a different hue in every room! — and various mirrored art pieces, as though his notion of a good time were a giallo. The tone of the movie is playful enough (and more importantly, absorbing enough) for these inorganically-placed backdrops to justify themselves.

As the party progresses, its conversations assume the form of chaotic cacophonies. Few individual sentences stand out amidst the overlapping chatter, but each actor quickly establishes their character's general vibe and behavior, as the camera circles around them in disorienting fashion. All it takes is a line or two — sometimes even just a silent gesture — to get a read on each character, like Maya's laid-back demeanor, or Dennis's tendency to provoke conflict in the guise of jokes.

These introductory scenes possess a vibrant, youthful energy, but they're also purposeful. They're fleeting snapshots of who these people are, which comes in handy later on, when the movie's focus shifts towards figuring out who they're pretending to be. These hidden truths are unveiled (and eventually gamified) when Forbes reveals what's in his briefcase, and while its contents are best left discovered during the movie, the nature of the story is at least worth touching upon, for a couple of reasons. One, if you're still on the fence, maybe a bit of clarity about the premise might convince you. And two, while that premise may sound like it's been done to death, rest assured — no other movie has quite approached this central conceit like It's What's Inside.

The Real Scoop on It's What's Inside: A Cinematic Enigma

If you're eager to avoid even the faintest whisper of the movie's subgenre, now's your chance to exit. This review will only reveal as much as its writer knew going in, ensuring a wildly captivating ride.

Minor plot details to follow.

It's What's Inside is a body-swap film, but the precise mechanism behind this transformation (and the subsequent plot twists) are best left to discovery. Forbes, with his unnerving smiles and shifty demeanor, lures his friends into a party game, which he claims is best understood through firsthand experience. Like the film, attempting to explain it in words might not do its surprises justice.

You've likely seen a body-swap movie or two – perhaps Freaky Friday, The Hot Chick, or the Jumanji sequels – though few have unfolded on this scale or been gamified in such an electrifying way. In the aforementioned examples, it's relatively easy to keep things straight; it's two people switching places and two actors behaving like one another, often a major selling point. Face/Off isn't quite a body-swap movie in the same vein, but who doesn't love seeing John Travolta channeling Nicolas Cage? Or, in the Harry Potter movies, Helena Bonham Carter playing Hermione Granger pretending to be Bellatrix Lestrange?

Now, imagine the countless permutations of these with more than two characters, and the actors' bold, idiosyncratic performances in It's What's Inside fall into place. However, the audience is never left confused unless Jardin intends them to be. Through innovative use of color, split-screen shots, and layered performances, everything tracks at all times, no matter how seemingly complicated the premise becomes.

By giving his characters wild new experiences and modes of interaction, Jardin forces their interpersonal tensions to the surface in ways that are constantly surprising. You can never quite predict exactly which twist will lead to what kind of a turn, even if it seems obvious as a traditional screenwriting setup. But It's What's Inside is far from traditional, and payoffs click into place in uproarious fashion, even when it feels like the movie might run out of steam late into its strangely existential second act.

Each captivating turn masterfully weaves a tale of intense desire, the quest for connection, and the deep-rooted fears that insidiously infiltrate a relationship over time, all within a brisk and captivating 102 minutes. With a dynamic camera that never wavers, It’s What’s Inside throbs with vitality, its every formal choice revealing hidden truths and subtleties through stunning composition. Utilizing a wickedly captivating visual lexicon, it offers sly hints of redemption, making even its most daring, out-of-this-world genre shifts feel like an intense couples’ therapy session atop the world’s most heart-pounding, adrenaline-fueled thrill ride. It’s a frenetic and enthralling film that demands to be seen.

It’s What’s Inside is now streaming on Netflix.

UPDATE: Oct. 2, 2024, 3:28 p.m. EDT It’s What’s Inside was reviewed following its Texas premiere at SXSW 2024. This review was first published on March 21, 2024, and has been updated to reflect viewing options.