As he stood there in the entryway with his hand on the woman’s windpipe, all he could think of was that it wasn’t supposed to happen this way.
In fact, breaking into the house—drinking juice on the isolated estate’s sprawling and expertly manicured back porch and then strolling through the connected orange grove—was nothing more than a whim on his part. He wanted to see how the other half lived (when the other half was nowhere to be seen). And he had almost made it in and out without being noticed.
But then, just as he was walking back toward his car parked out on the street … his greed kicked in. He went back to the house, stole a Rolex and grabbed what cash he could find. And as he turned to leave, in strolled the CEO and his wife: the owners who weren’t supposed to be there.
He didn’t want this. Truthfully. I mean, it was their fault, really, for showing up out of the blue to one of the wealthy CEO’s random California homes. What were they thinking?!
So, Mr. Nobody grabbed Wife and snarlingly threatened CEO that he’d better listen or someone will get hurt. But now what? He can smash their cellphones and, maybe, tie them up? Lock them in a room? But they’ve seen his face.
What can he do? What should he do? He’s not a stupid man, but this whole thing is stupid. As his grip tightens a bit, he feels Wife’s pulse pounding as quickly as his own. Beat, beat, beat, beat.
It all just got complicated.
When CEO openly gripes about people in the world believing that they’re “owed” something just for living, his wife—who’s involved in charity work—reminds him, “Not everybody who needs help is a freeloader.”
Later, when the couple’s gardener shows up to work on the property, the man stops at the front door to thank them for his employment. He shows pride in his work, and even makes earnest suggestions of how he could improve CEO’s property.
CEO, Wife and Nobody walk through a large Zen garden CEO had built on the property.
When CEO and Wife first walk into the house, he moves to have sex with her—in the hope of having a child together—but she pushes him off and suggests they unpack first. It’s implied that CEO has had a number of affairs with various “Debbies” that he later paid off.
Later in the film when it’s revealed that Nobody will have to stick around, waiting for more money to be delivered, CEO secretly whispers that Wife should “get close” to Nobody, “no matter what it takes.” (Wife tries to talk, but she and Nobody never get physical.)
Nobody threatens CEO and Wife with a gun. Wife has bloody lacerations on her ankles after being tied up with wire.
In a panic, someone smashes into a glass door and falls on broken glass, slashing the character’s throat. Someone is shot three times at point-blank range. And someone gets battered to death with a heavy piece of artwork. (We see blood and gore on the artwork and a rapidly bleeding slashed throat.)
Someone warns a person not to cross the deadly line of murder but then actually ends up killing two people.
More than 60 f-words and eight s-words are joined by single uses each of “h—” and “b–ch.” God’s name is misused four times, twice in combination with “d–n.”
Nobody reveals that Wife has birth control pills in her purse. Nobody drinks a glass of booze.
CEO urinates outdoors on a bush, and Nobody urinates in CEO’s shower. Lies are exposed. CEO complains about being a victim, just because he’s white and wealthy.
Some moviemakers use their camera lens as a way to examine or comment on our society at large. And Windfall certainly feels like that kind of cinematic scrutiny. It follows the tense, cramped-set interplay between a pair of haves and one have-not.
The world in Windfall’s viewfinder, however, is a place filled with generally miserable people who are equally repugnant in their own ways. In fact, this movie’s one ray of human goodness is quickly extinguished in brutal fashion.
If you squint your eyes just the right way, you might see these characters and their story as an example of a damaged and fallen mankind. But it’s a scenario with no redemption in sight. And the fact that this pic is slow, play-like, generally uninteresting and extremely foul makes getting to the credits a difficult slog.
After spending more than two decades touring, directing, writing and producing for Christian theater and radio (most recently for Adventures in Odyssey, which he still contributes to), Bob joined the Plugged In staff to help us focus more heavily on video games. He is also one of our primary movie reviewers.
