Tuesday, March 27, 2018

Now Showing: The Price of Fame

The Price of Fame
Genre: Thriller
Director: Mark Romanek
Writer: Ann Morrow
Cast: James McAvoy, Carey Mulligan, Chiwetel Ejiofor, J.K. Simmons, Sophie Turner, Ansel Elgort, John Krasinski

Plot: Alan (James McAvoy) has been single his entire life, but one can say he has been blessed by life, so far, earning a considerable fortune. He's passionate about the film industry and one of his main life goal is to meet the most celebrities he possibly can. He bought a house in a cozy Los Angeles neighborhood, next to rising star Judith Price's (Carey Mulligan) home she shares with established blockbuster star Gabe Wilson (John Krasinski). His other neighbours are the Landell couple, Zoe (Sophie Turner) and Anthony (Ansel Elgort), the undisputed king and queen of romantic comedies.

Over the years, Alan developped an unhealthy obsession of Judith, often spying on her while she's outside and even looking at her through windows. Gabe is often out of town and that's not the case for the pregnant Judith, who stays at home for the reminder of her pregnancy. One day, he decided to go and talk to her and tell her he loves her, only to be brutally rejected. The same night, Alan kidnaps her dog and kills it, placing the corpse on her doorstep, with a message warning her that her life's in danger.

The following day, Detective Karl Reynolds (Chiwetel Ejiofor) is summoned to the Price residence by Judith's father Greg (JK Simmons). A war veteran, Greg hopes to take the manners in his own hands if the police can't protect his daughter adequatly. Alan sees the detective in front of Judith's house and proceeds to spy on them. The Landell come out and claim that Alan is probably the dog's killer, because they know him as quite the stalker. Reynolds goes to Alan's door, asking him if he has anything to do with all this and he declines, showing Reynolds an edited picture of him with a famous celebrity with the hour at the bottom matching the time the dog was killed. Reynolds goes back the police department to discuss the matter with his colleagues, while Greg stays at his daughter's house to protect her.

In the middle of the night, Greg Price has fallen asleep on his chair in the front lawn, giving plenty of time for a masked Alan to knock him out with a solid blow to the head. He enters the house by breaking the window. He knows where to go to find Judith, because after months of stalking her, he has a pretty good idea of where her bedroom is. He enters the room and looks at her. He starts to unzip his pants and he hears the front down kicked down. Anthony and Zoe Landell heard the window broke and ran in the house to see what was up. Alan tries to escape, but he's brought down by Anthony Landell. He removes his mask to reveal Alan as the creep. He kicks Anthony in the groin and shoves the two women away and escapes in the dark of the night.

The following morning, Gabe Wilson, contacted by Judith following the dog incident came back in LA. He's briefed about what's happening by Detective Reynolds. The policeman suggests to wait for backup to breach in Alan's house, suspecting he's still inside. Greg decides to go in anyway with his shotgun, only the find the house empty and dozens of photographs of his daughter and Zoe with Gabe and Anthony's faces replaced with Alan's. Reynolds, Wilson and Anthony Landell went in with Greg, leaving Zoe and Judith alone, giving time to Alan, who was hiding in his backyard, to make his way next to them. He shoves them down and kidnaps them while the two men are in his house.

When the girls awaken, they're loosely tied up in a small cabin, Alan filming them. The walls are covered with pictures of them. He says they should all be together, not with Gabe and Anthony. He cuts them loose and tells them that if they want to be treated gently, they should start to kiss and make out. They are reluctant at first, but seeing how excited he is, Zoe whispers to Judith that she has a plan. She kisses Judith and tells Alan to go wear something more appropriate, she wants him to join them. He leaves to proceed and they both run away. When Alan hears the door opening, he takes his gun and starts shooting randomly in their direction, hoping they would stop. He mistakenly hurts Zoe in the process and she falls on the ground. Ashamed of what he did to the woman he passionately loves he runs at her, hugging her, letting Judith enough time to run away.

When she reaches a road, she notices a sign and calls Reynolds on her phone. She's soon joined by the others who decide to go at the cabin. When they arrive, Alan is attempting to force himself in Zoe, but he's carried away by Reynolds and Greg. The movie ends with Alan screaming that they belong with him, not with them.


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