We don't talk about Taco Bell

Starting my trip up The Guardian's top 50 films of 2024

#50 Heretic

A suave and dapper Hugh Grant draws two Mormon missionaries into a psychological game of terror and manipulation

Hugh's been on a roll with his recent film choices, so I'm intrigued to see what he does with this.

And well, the first thing to say is that Hugh does a good job - the main problem I had is that I'm not entirely sure what "this" is. Hugh plays Mr Reed (weird name, huh?) who has expressed an interest in learning more about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, so Sisters Barnes and Paxton (who are much younger than him, played by Sophie Thatcher and Chloe East - both of whom were raised as Mormons) are sent to speak to him. And guess what - things turn out somewhat differently from what they were expecting. 

To start with, the film is a reasonably intellectual (and VERY wordy) investigation into the nature of religion - Mr Reed is a good mix of playful, intelligent and creepy, but not so creepy that he can't roll it back by claiming it's just the results of the age gap. And then, somewhat unsurprisingly, the creepiness gets ramped up, very quickly becoming utter batshit-craziness. And then things go beyond that because it all get very silly indeed - I appreciate they were never going to make a 111 minute film of only theological debate, but I'm really not certain why they decided to go where they did!

So, let's ignore the story and just concentrate on the performances - obviously we have to start with our fourth visit with Hugh, even if one of them was only thirty seconds long (but how have we not met Paddington 2 yet?) and he does a very good job in a charmingly Hugh-ish kinda way, although he gets a BIT meaner in this than he usually does. Sophie Thatcher and Chloe East are also very good as the missionaries that venture into his orbit - I wasn't previously aware of either of them, although we saw Chloe East very briefly in The Fabelmans (but we saw a lot of people very briefly in that film). And that's your lot for actors here apart from Topher Grace in a role which is very odd because a) anyone could do it and b) it adds absolutely nothing to the film. So basically, all the people that needed to deliver here did so.

It's written and directed by Scott Beck and Bryan Woods (who also wrote A Quiet Place) and they do a pretty decent job - it's very wordy at times so it certainly took some writing (even if it does swap words for silliness towards the end) and I think it's pretty balanced in its portrayal of the church (they certainly don't come out as the bad guys), with Wikipedia saying that several ex-church members said it was accurate. I'd also say it's well shot, being nicely atmospheric in its use of lighting and horror tropes (even if it does get a bit clichéd towards the end).

All in all, I'd say this is a good idea, competently utilised and elevated by some superior performances but it really doesn't stick the landing. It was diverting enough though and I'm pretty certain there will be plenty worse films I get to experience on this list.

#47 - Not as great as it thinks it is