This Review Reveals Minor Details About the Plot.
If Wishes Were Wings
Then You Should Get Two.
Plot Overview
Baron
“Bear” (Michael Johnston) has inherited his
grandmother's slightly larger digs but has kept his high
school job at the retail outlet Casselle's Music. He also got her
cat Sandy who unbeknownst to him can open the medicine cabinet
door. There being no kids in the place he fails to cinch down the
child-proof lids on the meds inside. He comes home to find the
cat's corpse sprawled out amidst the spilt pills. It couldn't read
the warning labels, and Bear is not much brighter. On his way to
Trivia Night with his three friends from work, birds of a feather,
he stops by a curios shop to purchase a replacement crystal
necklace for his crush Nikki (Inde Navarrette) and on impulse
picks up a One Wish Willow novelty item. He doesn't read the many
warning labels on it, and to make up for his lack of courage to
declare to her his interest, he activates it saying, “I wish
Nikki loved me more than anyone in the world.” Her nickname,
“I'm your freaky Nikki,” speaks volumes about her
drugged out past on Molly,
MDMA (Ecstasy.) She has no more business being cast under
a spell than does that cat taking adult medications.
The rest of the movie is about Bear
dealing with Nikki's psychoses, Bear trying to redeem
something from the tutelage of Ian (Cooper Tomlinson) who
can't transcend his entry level job or his pick-up girls, and Bear
commiserating with “more chill” Sarah (Megan Lawless)
who keeps getting rejection letters from her many college
applications on account of having “fucked up” high
school. This is the height of fright much as a John Galsworthy
short story spoof excels in its own realm:
I had not seen my friend for a year and more, but he looked up at me as if I'd been in yesterday.“Hallo!” he said; “I went into a thing they call a cinema last night. Have you ever been?”
“Ever been? Do you know how long cinema has been going? Since about 1900.”
“Well! What a thing! I'm writing a skit on it!”
“How—a skit?”
“Parody—wildest yarn you ever read.”
“What a waste of your time!” I said.
“Last night—at that place—they had a race between a train and a motorcar. Well, I've got one between a train, a motorcar, a flying machine, and a horse.” (44–45)
The horror here involves not only the ill-fated pair but their other two friends/coworkers as well.
Ideology
The damage is not just from the two leads, but all four friends are involved in it, on the order of (Prov. 30:21-23) “For three things the earth is disquieted, and for four which it cannot bear: For a servant when he reigneth; and a fool when he is filled with meat; For an odious woman when she is married; and an handmaid that is heir to her mistress.”
“A servant when he reigneth,” that's Bear who goes along to get along. Nikki considers him a “little brother.” She is the dominant sister to him. He is so tongue-tied he can't express his feelings for her even when he has opportunity. The One Wish Willow puts him on top of the love game, however, which he doesn't know how to handle (“It's not mutual.”)
“A fool when he is filled with
meat” is Ian the dreamer who can't manage his career to any
benefit or girls for commitment. He wastes Bear's proposed Willow
counter-wish on material acquisition, which sets him up as a
meddler without benefiting his friend.
“For an odious woman when she is married” is Freaky Nikki who is a real work bound by spell to Bear like a clinging wife. This gets played to the hilt in the film.
“An handmaid that is heir to her mistress.” Bringing up the rear is Sarah who wins a party favor kiss from Bear in a game where Nikki was his date in attendance. That opens the door to jealousy and revenge.
“The earth is disquieted, and … it cannot bear—” The laid-back group social life of these four is totally disrupted, and the wee music business takes a hit of all four employees gone, only one with the requisite two weeks notice, the others departing more abruptly.
Production Values
“” (2025) was written and directed by Curry Barker. It stars Michael Johnston, Inde Navarrette, Cooper Tomlinson, and Megan Lawless. The cast played their several parts to a diverse perfection, Navarrette in a dual identity.
MPA rated it R for strong bloody violence, grisly images, sexual content, pervasive language, and brief graphic nudity. It was darkly lit. The editing was real good. The tension never lets up. There's lots of surprises, none of them fun—except almost for one late at night. Runtime is 1 hour 48 minutes.
Review Conclusion w/a Christian's Recommendation
This one had me bolting for the door at the end; it's that kind of movie. Enough said.
Movie Ratings
Action factor: Edge of your seat action scenes. Suitability For Children: Not Suitable for Children of Any Age. Special effects: Well done special effects. Video Occasion: Fit For a Friday Evening. Suspense: Don't watch this movie alone. Overall movie rating: Five stars out of five.
Works Cited
Scripture quotation is from the King James Version. Pub. 1611, rev. 1769. Software.
Galsworthy, John. “Acme” from Caravan by John Galsworthy. Reprinted in editor William Ransom Wood, Short Short Stories. New York: Harcourt, Brace & Co., 1951. Print.
bibles.n7nz.org