It’s What’s Inside (Greg Jardin, 2024) & Canary Black (Pierre Morel, 2024)

I’ve got two reviews for you today. The Sundance hit It’s What’s Inside that’s now on Netflix for all my subscribers and the upcoming Canary Black (starring Kate Beckinsale) for paid subscribers.

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IT’S WHAT’S INSIDE

Ambitious but uneven, It’s What’s Inside offers up a rather clever ‘what’s in the box mystery’ even if it does outstay its welcome before it’s over.

It is a body swapping, mind bending, identity changing psycho thriller with horror and sci fi influences, that never quite lives up to its promise.

It was one of the breakout movies at this year’s Sundance Festival, going for 17 million dollars to the highest bidder, in this case Netflix. But I guess what works as a Midnight Madness screening doesn’t always translate as smoothly to the small screen.

It’s about a group of old college friends who reunite as twenty-something’s on the eve of the wedding of Reuben (Devon Terrell). It takes place in a spacious mansion, left to him by his late mother, and it looks like a great place for a wild and raunchy party.

At the beginning of the movie, though, the main focus is on Cyrus (James Morosini) and Shelby (Brittany O’Grady), who have been together as a couple since, like, forever, and who are now having relationship trouble. 

Shelby is jealous of Nikki (Alycia Debnam-Carey), who has gone on to become a popular influencer, and is also the object of Cyrus’ hidden desire. There is also Dennis (Gavin Leatherwood), Maya (Nina Bloomgarden) and Brooke (Reina Hardesty).

The most important guest is Forbes (David Thompson), a whizz kid who was kicked out of college, but who has gone on to become something of a tech legend. With him he brings a brand new invention: a box which makes it possible to switch bodies.

I’m not sure if the movie takes place on a Friday, but boy, the results are Freaky, once this party toy is used to turn the evening into Game Night and the early Bodies Bodies Bodies vibe turns into something more sinister, with some romantic shenanigans taking place and a kinda sorta revenge plot kicking in.

It’s fun while it lasts, but there are some considerations to be made. The story is sketchy, the characterizations are paper thin, the dialogue too often feels flat, and as a result, even though the cast is game, the acting is at times rather uneven, especially (but not limited to) when the actors start to impersonate each other.

Writer and director Greg Jardin uses a whole bag of visual tricks to make the movie come alive, and you can sense his experience as a commercial and video director, but in the end it just makes the whole experience feel a little shallow.

The movie does offer up a lot of twists and turns, but it also becomes more confusing as goes along, concerning not so much what’s inside but rather who’s inside someone else at any given moment.

That’s actually less dirty than it sounds, but the fact that Netflix offers a list on their Tudum-site to keep track of proceedings is perhaps a nice idea, but also a sign of somewhat convoluted storytelling.

It’s what’s Inside can be seen as a scathing portrait of a generation that craves a new experience every day, and I’m sure the l success of the movie will allow director Jardin to make other movies, so here’s hoping they will also allow him to grow as a storyteller.

I give it 2 1/2 stars.

Note: It’s What’s Inside is now on Netflix.

Subscribe now and read my review of Canary Black starring Kate Beckinsale.