No Good Deed

No Good Deed is my first negative experience with a company screwing over a critic. Well, first and only.

Days before No Good Deed was set to come out, all screenings around the US were canceled. Press, public, and otherwise. Why? Well, this is the message that came with it:

Screen Gems has decided to cancel the advance screenings of NO GOOD DEED. There is a plot twist in the film that they do not want to reveal as it will affect the audiences’ experience when they see the film in theaters. Screen Gems apologizes for any inconvenience.

Yep, that says a lot there. Namely that hey, there is a big plot twist. Thanks for that, assholes. And since when have movies with plot twists been spoiled ahead of time by reviewers? I am sure it happens, but is it a big deal? Not at all. Most people don’t actively look for the twists, most people ignore it.

This was when I was still seeing everything I could in theaters, but I figured because of their shenanigans, I knew I’d wait til I could rent it for next to nothing and not reward them for this crap.

And I was excited to see it too. It hurt me, when the film left me. It hurt deep down.

It felt like a rain cloud was following me around for weeks.

Colin (Idris Elba) is a bad guy, maybe a sociopath. He was in prison for five years and up for parole. They got him for a manslaughter charge, but his crimes have also been linked to more than one missing woman. They just couldn’t prove anything. So just a manslaughter charge. Families are mad that he is up for parole. Well, obviously, he doesn’t get it, no matter how reformed he looks.

Well, he says screw that, and escapes from the transport anyways. What a bunch of dicks, not letting his reformed ass out of jail. So he goes to his old lover’s house (Kate del Castillo), finds out she has been cheating, and you know, kills her. She wasn’t faithful to him!

While driving away, he gets into an accident, and walks to a nearby house. Pouring rain, late at night, pretty bad times. Terry (Taraji P. Henson) is home alone with her baby and little girl. Her husband (Henry Simmons) is away on a golf trip with his dad for his dad’s birthday. So after a bit of help, she trusts him enough to let him in, dry off and wait for the tow truck. Things get even more interesting when her BFF (Leslie Bibb) shows up for their girl’s night.

But clearly Colin is messed up in the head. And Terry is for the most part alone with someone she doesn’t realize is dangerous. Is she going to get punished for helping a stranger? For doing a GOOD DEED?

Hot dogs and mac and cheese? What is she, six?
Oh. Yeah, she does look six. Carry on.

Something something plot twist. That was IT? That was the big moment? I am going to talk about the plot twist so hard, without spoiling it, because that is what they didn’t want me to do. Sure, I am pretending I am a big shot movie critic who has some clout, not just a dude with a website, but shush. It happened, it didn’t make the movie better, it just attempted to add some sense to everything.

It was more or less a plot point, not a plot twist. Twist implies some sort of change, whether it be in direction or maybe just a loop di loop. So the twist is terrible, which doesn’t help the movie.

The movie itself has very little character development. I thought I would get a shit ton out of something that Elba agreed to be in, but he is as cardboard-y as the rest of the cast. I think the movie moved too slow, too slow for a suspenseful movie.

I don’t know what else to say about it either. Not to entertaining, and the big twist couldn’t save it.