“Speak No Evil” (2024) is a remake of a 2022 Danish film, which Blumhouse Productions tailor made to appeal to most American moviegoers. When the Dalton family goes on vacation in Italy, father, Ben (Scoot McNairy, and no, it is not a misspelling of Scott), wistfully notices another family, Paddy (James McAvoy), Ciara (Aisling Franciosi) and Ant (Dan Hough). Ben silently aspires to be as carefree and fun loving as they seem to be. Ben’s wife, Louise (Mackenzie Davis), lets her guard down a bit when their daughter, Agnes (Alix West Lefler), takes an immediate liking to Paddy, who retrieves her stuffed bunny, Bouncy. After the Daltons return to their dreary life in London, they decide to accept Paddy’s invitation to his farm. The bloom begins to fade from the rose for Agnes and Louise long before Ben begins to have misgivings. Which family will survive the weekend?
Every family has a weak link, and Ben is the Daltons’ Achilles heel. He cares more about his family looking perfect than caring for them. He finds his daughter embarrassing and seems to think that Louise is enabling her. Later the source of his discontent emerges, and it is relatable, but not an excuse for his failure to function as a protector. Ben has the maturity level of a high schooler trying to gain points with the cool guy, whom he could never be like. He is having a mid-life crisis, and instead of facing his real problems, he tries to escape them blithely unaware that he is leaving his family behind.
In all fairness, who can blame Ben for wanting to have a bromance with someone whom McAvoy plays. Paddy sells himself as a doctor who decides to abandon the hurly burly of being a doctor in favor of the simple life on the English countryside. Unlike most men, including Ben, Paddy says all the right things, shows a lot of physical affection to Ciara and Ant and is in touch with his emotions. Also have you seen McAvoy? He is a great actor who did not need any special effects to play a person with split personalities in “Split” (2016), and in “Speak No Evil,” he gives a fearless performance on multiple levels: the micro expressions, the outbursts, the affable charisma and ease. If he asked you to help him find his puppy while wearing a cast and driving a white van, you would consider it. Paddy treats Ben less like a weekend guest and more like the most recent customer in a men’s retreat, but instead of beating drums, he sings and dances to some classic Eighties hits, screams on mountain tops and entertains his guests at a friend’s underground home restaurant. Of course, everyone forgets that the patriarchy does not benefit all men, and as Ben sides with Paddy over his family, he fails to recognize that he is digging his own grave. There are signs that Paddy is unhinged, and it is a treat to watch McAvoy give us glimpses of his shadow self.
Louise is not perfect. She prioritizes making Ben happy instead of trusting her instincts and keeping her and Agnes safe. For example, even though she is a vegetarian, she lets Paddy feed her meat. Ben stands by wordlessly as she repeatedly looks over to him in hopes that he will rescue her from Paddy’s intimate physical advances. As “Speak No Evil” unfolds, she gives up on relying on her husband and begins to take the lead to defend herself and her family, including Ben. He just does not have the titty tenacity, and it becomes obvious in an early scene that when the crap hits the fan, she has more experience than her husband in defending herself. If there are a group of Americans, one of them has to know how to use a shotgun.
“Speak No Evil” has a great theme where everyone tries to out liberal one another as if they are in a social consciousness dance off, but the point is not a comedy of manners. It is the inability to connect and communicate despite best efforts and good intentions. When Agnes tries to ring the alarm and uses the wrong words, Louise lectures her instead of understanding her. Kids are sacrificed for adult comfort and treated more like possessions than people. Louise sees her daughter’s weekend accommodations and is alarmed, but silent. It is not the first betrayal, and it will not be the last time that the parents fail to consider whether their daughter should be trusted with adult men who are strangers. Do not worry, parents. She does not get physically hurt. Ant is not so lucky.
Visually “Speak No Evil” is a gorgeous film where the weather and landscape play crucial supporting roles to set the emotional tone for each scene. Italy is sun kissed, expansive with enough city to feel safe and civil. In contrast, London is compact, gray, desiccated and drab to reflect the family’s listless spirit. The English countryside seems bucolic, and the interiors feel cozy, warm and lived in, but as the families’ relationship begins to sour, so does the way that director James Watkins shoots the film. It begins to feel cloying and claustrophobic, overcast and ominous.
If you saw the original, it is unlikely that you will like the remake though not impossible, but for everyone else, you are in for a good time. At the packed to capacity Boston screening, the audience went wild when the moment that everyone was waiting for finally came: the revelation of Paddy’s true motives. It is only at this point when Ciara stands out, and she gets a lot of help from Watkins to reveal the final push that she needs to steel herself for a physical confrontation, a visual trigger. Cowriter Watkins and original Danish creators, Christian and Mads Tafdrup, give her a line here and there to reveal her history. It is solid work, but perhaps deliberately underwritten to show that she does not need a personality when Paddy is there to tell her what to do. Unlike “Strange Darling” (2024), “Speak No Evil” earned the ability to use derogatory female epithets.
Think “Straw Dogs” (1971) without the rape and the entire family pitching in to try and survive. Pay attention to detail because in the end, a lot of objects, whether harmful or insignificant, play another role in the denouement so everyone gets their just desserts. Also, each character gets an opportunity to redeem themselves, including Ben who waits until the eleventh hour to put his family above himself.
It may be cheesy to take away lessons from movies, but “Speak No Evil” is full of them. If the most vulnerable person in a group is concerned, pay attention to them. Also regardless of age, the least mature person in the group should not be making decisions for the family. Choose your family’s safety over your feelings. People do not exist to fill the holes in your life and treating your family like extensions of yourself will hurt you. Go see this movie!
