The Last Thing He Wanted (2020)

★

A veteran D.C. journalist loses the thread of her own narrative when a guilt-propelled errand for her father thrusts her from byline to unwitting subject in the very story she's trying to break.

Classification: 15

I can only assume that the titular "He" in The Last Thing He Wanted is me because holy christ I have no idea what the hell happened in this movie and I hated the experience of watching this. It's like I stepped into the Bermuda Triangle yet have come out completely disengaged and underwhelmed by witnessing this logicless absurdity. Director Dee Rees of Mudbound fame who has co-written the script with Marco Villalobos, based on the novel from Joan Didion completely fumbles whatever narrative about arms dealing, contras and U.S Foreign policy in the 1980s this film was trying to accomplish. The most frustrating thing about the film is how initially the plot is easy to follow, boring and rhythmless yes but you can tell Anne Hathaway is a no-nonsense reporter Elena McMahon committed to exposing the truth who becomes embroiled in the illegal arms dealing of her father Richard (Willem Dafoe). The first hour is coherent, characters are underwritten and exaggerated simultaneously and you get a clear sense of what the film is aiming to do, a more serious version of something like American Made or Kill the Messenger to explore the dark side of America's global influence.

Though nothing about The Last Thing He Wanted does anything to make those ideas compelling or apparent as McMahon's descent into the lawless underbelly of Central American gunrunning forgoes excitement and logic despite gunfire, betrayals and sex. Rees and editor Mako Kamitsuna fail to make anything about the film captivating, even in the scenes that make sense, there is a dull monotonous drive to every moment. The drama is forced, the dialogue is atrocious and Hathaway's inner monologues drone about integrity and philosophy fall on deaf ears with its impotent pontification. It's a talented cast but they are all left adrift but the dead momentum of pacing and story, Hathaway is trying her best but its a lost cause. Ben Affleck as the male lead Treat Morrison, a US Government official who has a relationship with McMahon (I think? it's never made clear even after they sleep together, I thought he was her ex? was he her child's father? God I watched this twice and I still don't understand half of this movie) but he's basically sleeping through his performance. Delivering exposition with the passion of lifeless roadkill, contrasted against Willem Dafoe's Richard McMahon who is a bit more lively if not bigoted as the script really wants to hammer down the 1980s homophobia through his character. Leading to the questionable exaggerated accents of Mel Rodriquez and Edi Gathegi's characters as criminal associates of Richard who are both ally and enemy to Elena in her mindnumbing journey.

Rees' direction or script can't keep track of the film's players, relationships, betrayals, allegiances or motivations, as if every piece has been knocked off the chessboard yet we are still expected to make a move as if nothing has changed. Anne Hathaway's character is in danger, most likely to do with gun-running for contras, but which characters are trying to kill her? why are they? what is this leading to? and is there supposed to be a bigger dramatic arc to reflect on the moral quandary of American foreign policy? apparently not as the latter half of the film becomes a vacuum for logic and understanding. All the pieces for this to make sense seem to be here, seem to be, but they have gone missing and the audience and actors are left adrift to try and make sense of this with little success. It's a confusing dumpster fire that just becomes more depressing when you consider the talent both on and offscreen, you make the effort to try and understand what is happening but soon it feels like you're going to have a stroke. I mean why does the last twenty minutes revolve around Elena pretending to be an employee at a seemingly abandoned beach resort for Toby Jones? I mean it seems to be a cover story set up by Morrison though it's just another spinning plate the quickly shatters at Rees' feet. So many plates, so many questions but as the runtime goes on the questions keep piling up as plates keep shattering, making the headache of the audience even worse.

The film is boring, underlined, bold print, neon light bright boring as bar the hilariously terrible twist ending with all the subtlety of throwing a brick through a window nothing about The Last Thing He Wanted can make you feel anything. It is thematically barren, logically bereft, narratively muddled to the point that even trying to genuinely piece together what happened is a fool's errand. The film is a disaster not from beginning to end, instead its a gradual collapse that bears little fruit to make the journey remotely worth it. Failed pretentious grandstanding against its historical contexts makes its most monotonous developments harder to process, contexts and scenes seem to be missing and it slowly drills the audience to a place of helpless apathy in regards to its appalling execution. Not bad enough to be funny, not bad enough to be memorable, with the exception of its bewildering final minutes that completely fail to make Elena's journey a cataclysmic inditement of its subject matter and leaving audiences with nothing to gain from this cinematic misfire.

Director: #DeeRees

Screenwriter: #MarcoVillalobos and #DeeRees

Cast: #AnneHathaway, #BenAffleck, #RosiePerez, #EdiGathegi, #MelRodriguez, #TobyJones, #WillemDafoe