Maika Monroe, Bill Skarsgard
“VILLAINS” My rating: B-
88 minutes | MPAA rating: R
The ironically titled “Villains” makes audiences root for a pair of truly stupid criminal lovers by providing antagonists who are infinitely worse.
In Dan Berk and Robert Olsen’s black comedy, Mickey (Bill Skarsgard) and Jules (Maika Monroe) are the stars of their own sweetly demented version of “Gun Crazy.” They are to real criminals what white suburban teens are to genuine gang bangers — they talk tough and are sexually turned on by criminal behavior, but they’re so thick they don’t think to fill the tank of their getaway vehicle before robbing a convenience store.
Running out of gas just miles from their latest heist, the pair ditch the car and take refuge in blandly posh manse in the woods. Nobody’s home, so they figure they can hang out there for a while.
That’s until they find a mute 10-year-old girl chained in the basement and are interrupted by the arrival of homeowners George and Gloria (Jeffrey Donovan, Kyra Sedgwick), who are also serial kidnappers/killers.
Gloria is a Southern belle so off the charts that she believes a porcelain-headed doll is her actual child (she makes Blanche Dubois look like the poster girl for emotional stability). Hubby George is a golden-voiced charmer, a Dixie gentleman who can explain away even the most hair-raising ugliness with a barrage of reassuring bromides. (Am I the only one who suspects Donovan is doing a vocal imitation of Kevin Spacey in his “House of Cards” role?) (more…)
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