Review: Leave the World Behind

NETFLIX REVIEW: LEAVE THE WORLD BEHIND

Leave the World Behind is the number one movie on Netflix this week. The plot’s premise is fascinating. Unfortunately, the film’s execution slowly (very slowly, as in — hurry up……get to the point!) becomes a glacially-paced misfire.

The 2 hour-16 minute movie deteriorates into a petty cavalcade of annoying characters we want to punch in the face, punctuated by (unintentional) laughter as the storyline becomes more and more preposterous. In the first hour, I was drawn in to the premise and mesmerized. In hour two, I began giggling. Finally, in the last 20 minutes I barking insults at my television screen like I was watching a bad football game. At the 1:44 mark, my wife stormed out of the room. I’m not sure if her departure was triggered by my commentary, or the bad movie.

The movie was produced by Barack and Michelle Obama’s new production company, which makes it a peculiar rollout given the end-of-the-world, apocalyptic subject matter, sprinkled throughout with gratuitous profanity (Unofficially I counted approx. 60 “fucks,” including a dozen served up by the kiddies–was this excessive profanity really necessary?). I know nothing else of the backstory behind this movie, other than it was based on the 2020 novel of the same name by Rumaan Alam.

The cast is promising. Four stars get equal billing and roughly equal screen time. Ethan Hawk plays a CUNY professor, who is pretty much otherwise worthless as a man, husband, and father. Julia Roberts is his wine-addicted wife, in what’s unquestionably her most irritating role ever. It’s astonishing that she even took the part. Perhaps the star-power of the Obama’s turned on their charm and persuaded Roberts to assume a character who may be the most self-centered, galling, tiresome disaster movie victim since the freckled, red-haired, know-it-all kid in the Airplane movie; I don’t know. But this portrayal won’t do anything to jump start anyone’s career. Mahershala Ali, best known as the 1950s-era pianist in The Green Book is excellent as the mega-rich financier who has all the right connections and accordingly knows partially what’s about to about to happen (and it’s not good for anybody). Myha’la Jael Herrold is also solid as his beyond-her-years teen daughter, whose wisdom and wisecracking spices up the otherwise excruciating conversation and magnifies the glaring disparity between the two self-absorbed families stuck together in the end times.

As for the supporting cast — Hawk and Roberts somehow spawned two bratty children, who desperately need to be smacked. Kevin Bacon also appears, for perhaps 6 minutes onscreen, playing a MAGA conspiracy survivalist nut (who turns out to be right about everything — which begs the question…..did the Obama’s REALLY help to bankroll this?).

What makes Leave the World Behind intriguing and very watchable for a while is the very realistic premise set forth. Technology ceases working. Cell phones stop getting signals. GPS systems go dark. Televisions won’t get a signal. Even the radio doesn’t work, and nobody listens to the radio anymore. The suspense builds as all the things most of us rely on for boredom-killing sustenance become useless. We can’t get any news from the world. We’re cut off. We’re isolated. How will the final episode of Friends end? Somebody! Do something!

This happens while Hawk and Roberts and their two whiney brats are away from “the City” and on summer holiday in a rented house on Long Island. Hence, they’re somewhat safe from the chaos, but then don’t really know the magnitude of the global disaster happening. Mahershala Ali and Myha’la join the renters as the actual owners of the nicest Airbnb this side of The Hamptons, which instantly causes friction. Mistrust and tensions are amplified by disparate economic class and race. Again, the premise here is a solid foundation for a great movie. But I still have to ask–how does a CUNY professor afford a 6,000 sq. ft., 6 bedroom, luxury summer rental with a pool on the ocean and millions in fancy art hanging on the walls on his meager salary? Never mind, that’s the least problematic question henceforth in the story.

Navigation systems crash.  Chaos ensues.  An oil tanker crashes onto the beach. Airliners start falling out of the sky. Julia Roberts opens another bottle of Cabernet Franc.

I can’t criticize much else about Leave the World Behind without revealing spoilers.* But let’s just say there ar some preposterous plot twists.  I’ll also acknowledge there’s a terrific point to be made about modern society and the tech-dependent times we live in. Moreover, the symbolic divisions between the main six characters are emblematic of a larger fractured nation, as a whole.

I’ve always found apocalyptic movies and television shows to be fascinating. I also must admit they’re interesting as warnings. Perhaps dystopian movies can even be teaching tools for survivalists. If the announcement came right now that we were under nuclear attack, I’d remember that 1962 episode from The Twilight Zone.

That’s said, there’s not much to ponder from Leave the World Behind, other than frustration. My advice is: Leave this movie behind.

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• …. This movie had a marvelous premise, then it fails to answer questions about 100s of deer invading the backyard (insert more here edited for space and time), and finally shows the area of “Long Island” where they were staying (via a drone) is actually maybe 5 miles from NYC. I saw that scene where the area is on the bay and NYC smoldering in the background and wondered—what not ONE helicopter or boat or whatever in a city of 16 million stumbles upon Long Island and then nearly tossed a bag of potato chips at the screen except that I’d already scarfed down the entire bag.