PVT CHAT

Decided to give this the same score as Uncut Gems, lol. Equally as stressful to watch, except it's just some asshole playing blackjack on his laptop. Easily the best movie to come out of the Dimes Square milieu.

Kind of stupid and poorly acted. It does achieve some discomfort and dramatic tension, but not nearly enough.

Not entirely rewarding because most of the important stuff is left for last, but it feels all the way provocative as pretty realistic take on today's state of transitorial relationships, places and faces -- where everything seems mediated by a computer and a credit card, every conversation is a transaction, every gesture means a connection (not necessarily physical).

There are flashes here where the story feels like it's going to evolve into something more substantial, but mostly this is just a decent erotic thriller where the eroticism does work. The ending is wholly unsatisfying and too abrupt in how it gets there, but there's a solid tension throughout the rest of the flick that made me enjoy this more than expected. Julia Fox has less screen time than Vack but does more with what she has. Needs a better script ultimately, has some wonky dialogue.

I have a complicated relationship with blackjack in movies, because everybody sucks at it but thinks they're great. Every guy has been Jack, lying about what they do to impress a girl. I guess that makes him relatable, even though he's an unlikable edgelord. In fact, I slowly realized that there are no likable dudes in this movie. The stalking scenes are crazy uncomfortable, but once Jack & Scarlet get together and prove that they're both completely insane, it comes to a satisfying conclusion.