Come and Find Me Blu-ray Review
Jeremy Werner
March 14th, 2017
How does anyone lead a double life anymore? I pondered that while watching COME AND FIND ME. Social media has made it so easy for us to stalk each other, even people we know on a personal level. While I’m not saying that social media would have unraveled every integral plot point in COME AND FIND ME, I am saying that the basis of a person leading a double life that can disappear off the face of the planet needs to be incredibly unique and creative for it to work anymore.
GONE GIRL was the last one to do that, but it’s also a sadistic film about one couple living in a tainted love fantasy world. COME AND FIND ME isn’t quite on that level about love gone wrong. But with all the characters having cell phones and other modern technologies, you would think the main character would surely have just bypassed everything he’s going through at some point in the movie. But COME AND FIND ME fights that notion off early on by establishing that David (Paul) and Claire (Wallis) do not have a normal relationship.
The two play games on each other to spice up their love life and relationship. They pretend to not recognize each other in public at the beginning of the movie, almost appearing like one is stalking the other. But the games don’t seem fun anymore when Claire actually goes missing. After a passionate night of love making, David wakes up, seems a bit concerned, but then shrugs it off, going about his day and waiting for whatever surprise Claire has. But that surprise never comes.
COME AND FIND ME has a tone problem after establishing early on that this is not a story entrenched in reality because it still tries to find universal truths about love in its silly premise. But what if everyone in COME AND FIND ME doesn’t think its premise is silly? That’s my biggest problem with COME AND FIND ME. It never has anything palatable for the viewer to latch onto and ride along with.
The movie uses flashbacks to lay out motivations and plot, but we never get a deeper understanding of David or Claire, just how they simply react to one another. First time director Zack Whedon, the brother of Joss Whedon (THE AVENGERS and FIREFLY), has a keen eye for individual shots and never confusing the viewer with flashbacks that could appear inconsistent to the casual observer. For that he should be commended since the flashbacks are never a crutch or a hindrance to the storytelling. But on an emotional level, he lacks a lot.
I never really care if David finds Claire. My feelings towards it are a mix of having a predictable finale, a lack of ingenious plot twists and the overall dissatisfaction between David and Claire’s relationship. I know that Paul is a good actor, but it seems bizarre that he appears stoic half the time. I’m sure Wallis is a great actress, but her character is intentionally confusing and that makes her unrelatable throughout.
COME AND FIND ME isn’t a terrible movie. It’s just not a very good one. It managed to keep my interest because I kept hoping for more plot to reveal itself or maybe a different outcome to the movie that sadly never came. It’s unfortunate because there’s a lot of potential here with the cast assembled. Even Whedon has a lot of potential behind the lenses, but I’m not sure about his writing.
BLU RAY REVIEW
Video: (1080p HD Widescreen 2:39:1) It’s a wonderfully shot movie and that comes through on this Blu-ray.
Audio: (English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1) There are a couple of problems with dialogue in this movie. They’re either whispering low enough because they’re actually hiding dialogue or the mixing is off. I’m going to go with the latter.
Filmmaker Commentary: Director and writer Zach Whedon sits down with producer Chris Ferguson to talk throughout the length of the movie. They don’t seem to vibe well together, but provide a lot of information that you’d expect. They talk about the filming, acting, and production, but frustratingly they expel upon too many of the movie’s unanswered questions.
Unraveling the Mysteries of COME AND FIND (6:54): This behind-the-scenes feature touches on acting, directing and writing. It’s a pithy discussion about the movie’s creation, themes and working on it. It’s alright, but nothing too interesting.
