The Entitled (2011)

Thrillers are one of my favorite types of movies. If done right they can leave me on the edge of my seat and totally off my rocker with nervousness. No matter how many times I see a Hitchcock movie I still get tense even though I know exactly what will happen next. To me thrillers were great from the time Hitchcock was making them to about the 1980s. I think by the late eighties so many stories had been used to create tense situations that they got overused. That is just my opinion no throwing things at me! The Entitled is labeled as a thriller. I guess it can be but there was nothing intense about the plot. Some of the twists were very good which gave the story a bit of boost.

            Paul Dynan (Kevin Zegers) is struggling to get by financially. He graduated college two years previous and cannot find a decent job. His mother is sick and their bills are late. His father has been working later than usual. Paul goes up to his room one night. He changes and pulls a shotgun out of his backpack. Paul goes to see, who we assume, is his girlfriend Jenna’s (Tatiana Maslany) place. He tells her everything is set for the following day to execute their plan. Jenna tells him she will do whatever he wants her to do.

            Three rich spoiled college students Hailey, Jeff, and Nick, set out to Hailey’s family’s house around a lake. All they do is party, take drugs, and blow off school like they own the world. As Jeff drives, Nick and Hailey sit in the backseat and drink. They were passed out when Jeff stops the car after seeing someone standing in the middle of the road with a shotgun. He gets out of the car and asks the person what they are doing. The person is Jenna and she replies that she is waiting for someone. Another guy named Dean comes out of the woods also carrying a shot gun.

            All of the rich kids are tied up, blind folded, and placed in a basement. With a voiced distorter Paul calls Nick’s father and gives his demands. Each one of the fathers is to send a million dollars to a bank account by 3am. Their plan goes smoothly until Paul makes a second call to Nick’s father. Jeff’s father is taking his time getting to the house. Paul and Jenna think the story about Jeff’s father getting to the house late is bullshit. Jenna takes her gun and shoots Jeff dead. The two fathers hear what has happened over the phone.

            Nick and Hailey manage to get away. Nick realizes they are at his father’s house. To get to Hailey’s house they have to cut through the woods. Paul has Jenna and Dean go after them while he waits for the money.

            There is a pretty good twist that unfolds in a cool way.

            The cast was an interesting mix. Let me just get right to the reason I even watched this movie: Tatiana Maslany. If you do not already know I am a MASSIVE Orphan Black fan (Sarah Manning and Alison Hendrix are my favorite clones!) and I adore Maslany. The girl is an awesome actress. She is so awesome that I will watch absolutely anything she was ever in. I have yet to see her give a bad performance (Alright, I will say that she was not that great in Certain Prey but that whole movie was a damn train wreck and I blame the direction for her mediocre acting in that). Maslany was good as Jenna. Jenna was supposed to be a sociopath and social outcast and Maslany just nailed it. She played characters similar to Jenna before and since making this movie so I guess the character was not too much of a stretch for her. I had a fabulous time hearing her throw around the F-bomb. Victor Garber played Jeff’s father. I also adore Garber. He will forever be Jack Bristow from Alias to me. Like Maslany, I have yet to see Garber in a bad role and he also threw around some F-bombs. Kevin Zegers… where has been? I remember when he was all over teen magazines back in the day. I never really watched him in anything before this. I liked him and would not seeing more of his movies. Ray Liotta played Nick’s father. The character did not seem to be fleshed out too well. It was brought to suspicion that he might be behind the kidnapping because he seemed so calm and sure his son would be alright but nothing was ever made of that suspicion. Hearing him curse made me really want to watch Goodfellas, ha ha.

The Entitled was not terrible. The ending had a very good twist. Honestly, I think what makes the story intense in a small way is the character of Paul. He starts out as a nice kid who loves his mom and dad and who is a college graduate was himself a bit scary and had some kind of sociopathic tendency. He is the one who came up with the plan and researched Jenna and Dean to recruit them and he planned every single detail of the kidnapping and ransom out to scary precision. I definitely would not say that The Entitled was a thriller. There are decent twists and turns and characters that make certain situations a little tense but not like you need to grip your blanket in nervousness. The Entitled is worth watching for actors and for some of twists.