Mimi Cave’s Fresh, which is certainly one of the more audacious and purely entertaining debuts from this year’s Sundance Film Festival, is a difficult movie to review.  So much of the film hinges on a specific plot development that occurs at the end of the first act. Normally, I’d be extremely averse to spoilers, but the film’s marketing campaign, for better or worse, gives away everything about the movie.  Just look at the poster and trailer featured here—gee, a severed hand! Wonder what that movie could be about? It’s easy to appreciate the difficult situation that the film’s marketing team faced—how to entice viewers without giving away the film’s central conceit.  Otherwise, the film would just be presented as a standard, if slightly offbeat, rom-com. All that is to say, this will be a spoiler-rific review of a movie that could just as easily have been called Fine Young Cannibals.

The movie opens on Noa (Daisy Edgar-Jones, a relative unknown who really, ahem, sinks her teeth into this role), who is navigating the perils of online dating. We see her suffer through a hilariously awkward first date, in which the man ‘helpfully’ instructs her to bring cash to pay for her half of the meal. He then proceeds to monologue about himself, act racist toward the waitress, and take Noa’s leftovers.  When Noa has the wherewithal to end the date, his mask drops and he hurls sexist insults at her.  Noa, and the film itself, have been made to feel cynical about the world of online dating, and romance, in general. She thus unwittingly becomes a prime target for Steve (Sebastian Stan, who’s coming off a red-hot year following The Falcon and the Winter Soldier and Pam & Tommy), who effortlessly picks her up in the grocery store.  They fall into a love affair and he eventually persuades her to go on a trip with him.  It’s at this point that the title credits boldly, finally begin.  And it’s here that things begin to go very, very wrong, both for Noa and the film in general.

This is the juncture at which it becomes apparent that the film is suffering a bit of an identity crisis, borne out of meekness? Laziness? An unwillingness to follow through with the themes that are bubbling beneath the surface? In the first 30 minutes, it appears that the film has Something To Say. Noa is disillusioned, having been bruised by too many left swipes and unsolicited dick pics. Her situation is painfully real and will be vividly familiar to many in the audience.  When Steve swoops in, the film comes alive and there’s a real spark between the two actors, in spite of (or because of?) the undercurrent of danger that lurks in their conversations. They have a shared dark humor and cynicism—they share a toast to their dead parents on the first date. However, when the film title appears on screen and Steve’s jig is up, the movie switches gears firmly into thriller mode, and discards the nuance hinted at in the first act.

To be fair, there are thrills to had in the second and third acts, but these are first and foremost genre thrills. Stan is clearly having fun with his villainous part and that fun makes the character pleasurable to watch, no matter the depravity of his acts. Edgar-Jones is also masterful at conveying fear and anxiety, and it’s an enjoyable slow burn to watch her patiently turn the tables on her captor. However, these delights are fairly one-dimensional compared to the dynamic first act, and it becomes clear the film doesn’t really have anything to say.  Stan has a brief monologue in which he compares cannibalism to being in love, but this appears to be lip service on the writers’ part, as the script displays no interest in exploring these themes. The film also suffers in the back half from having less shared screen time between the two leads, as the two embark on their own, individual subplots. When they do interact, the film comes alive, particularly in a last-act dinner date featuring an instantly iconic dance sequence that ranks up there with the gonzo human-cyborg dance from Ex Machina.

As a result, I have mixed feelings about this film.  There are unmistakable pleasures to be found. It’s handsomely shot, with warm reds and yellows suffusing the stark architecture. (A nice touch is the similarity in the two characters’ homes—all sharp lines and angles, implying a shared connection that neither is fully aware of.) The costume design is also compelling; at one point, Steve outfits Noa in a pink dress with a bow that resembles a potato sack more than anything, which speaks volumes to how he views women. And the soundtrack is peppered with indie pop songs that keep the film buzzing along nicely.  The two actors are fantastic, and their rapport is electric and palpable.  (Edgar-Jones’ star will surely rise after this film, evidenced by her recent casting in the upcoming Where The Crawdads Sing film adaptation.),

This is firmly a B movie, elevated by its avant-garde indie film aesthetic—it’s not an A24 film, but it certainly looks like one. Seeing it in that lens, and turning your brain off, will help you overlook the imperfections, such as the various contrivances and plot holes.  Noa undergoes a horrific mutilation at one point and seems to have no consequences afterward; the supposedly removed body part appears very much intact.  An un-named figure randomly appears in the final scenes and then just as unceremoniously disappears. The other speaking roles in the film are paper-thin characterizations at best. And so on.

The final shot is cheeky and will likely elicit a hollow chuckle.  It’s clever but at the same time reminds you that the film’s message doesn’t go much deeper than ‘dating sucks.’ Ultimately, the end result isn’t quite as…fresh as the film’s title would have you believe.