Oh, the dinner party—the quintessential setting for social mishaps, passive-aggressive comments, and, in this case, a whole lot of chaos. The Trouble with Jessica tries to push the boundaries of this classic setup but ends up needing a bit more oomph to really leave a mark.
Directed by Matt Winn, The Trouble With Jessica takes a dark comedic route, much like Very Bad Things. The plot kicks off with an unexpected and rather grim twist—Jessica (Indira Varma) decides to take her own life in the garden of her friends’ swanky London home. This sets off a chain of increasingly absurd events as the characters try to cover up the death to save a crucial house sale.
The Setup
We’ve got Richard (Rufus Sewell) and Beth (Olivia Williams), a couple invited over for dinner by Tom (Alan Tudyk) and Sarah (Shirley Henderson)—Jessica, an old friend with a scandalous past, tags along uninvited. As the night progresses, secrets unravel, and the thin veneer of civility peels away, revealing desperation and absurdity beneath.
Where It Shines and Falls Short
The film nails the awkward tension and the ridiculous lengths people go to maintain appearances. Shirley Henderson shines as Sarah, delivering a performance that teeters on the edge of breakdown and control. Her attempt to manage the fallout of Jessica’s death while keeping her house sale intact is both hilarious and horrifying.
However, while the premise is solid and the cast is stellar, the film doesn’t quite push the absurdity far enough. The humour is dark, yes, but it feels like it’s holding back. For a movie aiming to be a biting satire, it could have benefited from taking risks and going even further over the top.
The Characters: Love to Hate Them
One of the film’s strengths—and weaknesses—is its characters. None of them are particularly likeable, which works for the dark comedy angle but also means there’s no one to really root for. They’re all deeply flawed, and their actions are driven by selfish motives, making their downfall satisfying yet a bit predictable.
Not Relatable for Everyone
As someone who’s not middle class and doesn’t own a house, I struggled to empathise with the characters’ desperation to sell their property. To some people, money is everything, and maybe that’s the whole point of it, but it just fell flat for me. It’s almost too real. It either needs to be completely unthinkable or somewhat relatable, but it was underwhelmingly somewhere in the middle. The stakes didn’t feel high enough to justify the extreme lengths they went to. Maybe I wasn’t the intended audience, but there needed to be substantial risk and loss involved to make their choices believable.
Final Thoughts
The Trouble With Jessica is a decent watch if you’re into dark comedies and social satire. It’s got a strong cast and some genuinely funny moments, but it stops short of being truly memorable. If it had dared to be outrageous and pushed its humour further, it could have been a standout.
So, if you’re in the mood for a dinner party gone horribly wrong and don’t mind spending time with some morally dubious characters, give it a go. Just don’t expect to feel any warmth or attachment to these folks by the end.
The Trouble With Jessica is available on digital platforms and to rent or own from 15th July 2024.
