It’s What’s Inside (2024) Review!!

Synopsis – A pre-wedding party descends into an existential nightmare when an estranged friend shows up with a mysterious suitcase.

My Take – A bachelor party dissolving into a hellish nightmare is a concept that has been explored across various genres, especially ones which are situated in a remote location where either no one can hear you scream, or cares if you do.

However, what makes this body-swap comedy thriller from debutant writer-director Greg Jardin, a Sundance sensation which Netflix picked up for $17 million, a standout is that it doesn’t unfold exactly as you’d expect. Both highly strung and busily plotted, this is one of those entertaining high-concept films where the pleasure comes purely from a bold premise that goes to exciting, disorienting, tense, and terrifying places.

Sure, we have seen body-swap stories before, most popularly in the form of Freaky Friday (2003), The Hot Chick (2002), and the Jumanji sequels, though few of them have unfolded on quite this scale, or have managed to be so addictively acidic.

This is a smart, absorbing feature with an intriguing hook, a clear point of view and crazy edge-of-your-seat scenes. Clearly director Jardin’s intention was to provoke and entertain, and he absolutely succeeds.

The story follows Shelby (Brittany O’Grady) and Cyrus (James Morosini) who are stuck in a stale relationship. Despite being together since college, nine years, there’s no ring and no sex life, leaving them often wondering if there’s hope. They at least have one mutual interest: Old college friend Nikki (Alycia Debnam-Carey), whose hashtag-perfect-life Instagram feed Shelby watches with envy, and who Cyrus crushed on way back and probably still does.

Things certainly aren’t going to be any easier when Shelby and Cyrus reunite with their old college crew for the wedding of Reuben (Devon Terrell). Mainly as Nikki will be there. So will neo-hippie Maya (Nina Bloomgarden), grounded tough-girl type Brooke (Reina Hardesty) and bro-dude Dennis (Gavin Leatherwood). The aim of the evening is to reconnect and party in the bizarre mansion-cum-art-installation put together by Reuben’s late mother.

However, Reuben has also invited a wild card, Forbes (David Thompson), whom none of the group has spoken to since he got kicked out of college for reasons several of them have cause to feel guilty about. But Forbes does turn up, that too with a suitcase containing a surprisingly old-fashioned contraption that can swap consciousnesses.

He proposes a party game, somewhat like Mafia or Werewolf, in which the crew swaps bodies, then tries to guess who’s who. After some initial shock and misgivings, the group latches onto the game and starts to vibe on the out-of-body, persona-swapping experience like it’s a wild new designer drug. But soon old resentments, weird dynamics, secret crushes, and devious betrayals start to surface, and things eventually go hideously wrong.

It’s spiky, entertaining stuff, and although it’s played mostly for laughs and thrills, it’s a setup with real thematic teeth. As each new bit of information is revealed, all you can do is laugh in sheer delight at how absurdly good the film is at creating tension in unique ways. As director Jardin dives into the value, the seduction, and the danger of inhabiting someone else’s body.

The clever screenplay helps us easily understand the film’s many complexities, in part because there’s a photographic trick where different light filters reveal who’s really who. It’s a gimmicky visual style that works quite well, with its satirically artsy set design, social media affectations, unreliable flashbacks and split screens creating an aesthetic that’s in line with Millennials’ fractured and distracted point-of-view.

And while the body count isn’t exactly zero, the film isn’t a bloodbath either. It’s not a story about murder, it’s a story about excuses and the way we can weasel ourselves into and out of trouble without accepting any responsibility for what we’ve done or why we’ve done it.

The majority of film follows the perspective of Cyrus, who isn’t a bad person for falling out of love with his girlfriend, but he’s a bad person because he’s too cowardly to admit it, and instead tries to convince Shelby that their problems are all her fault. While we may be able to sympathize with his bizarre plight as the victim of body swapping criminality, we also want his penance to come.

Yes, that isn’t to say the concept is air-tight at all times as few obvious questions go unaddressed. And the film struggles in the first act, as director Jardin tries to introduce all the characters and quickly loses track of who’s who, why it matters and what their connections are. Ironically, it’s only when the film switches these characters’ identities that they become clearly defined, which speaks highly of this cast’s skill at replicating each other’s performances and mannerisms.

Without a doubt, Brittany O’Grady, Alycia Debnam-Carey, James Morosini, Gavin Leatherwood, Nina Bloomgarden, Reina Hardesty, Devon Terrell, David W. Thompson, and Madison Davenport bring out stellar turns and make for an excellent ensemble. On the whole, ‘It’s What’s Inside‘ is a devilishly enjoyable body-swap comedy thriller that can’t be missed.