Movies fade from memory over time, especially the average ones, but a film stuck in the far recesses of my mind is Ruben Östlund’s Triangle of Sadness, released in late 2022. Its third act, which comes out of complete nowhere, is a blistering dark comedy where the established power hierarchy is flipped upside down.  The way the characters respond to the situation is fun to scrutinise and debate.

A similar theme… and location… is at the heart of Send Help, the latest from veteran director Sam Raimi (The Evil Dead, Spider-Man).  Bradley Preston (O’Brien) has just been appointed the CEO of a fast-growing American company.  We can see from the outset that he’s a jerk.  He “inherited” the role upon the death of his father, he lacks management skills, and he’s appointing his even-less-qualified college mates into key positions.  It’s an odd choice by the board since he seems doomed to fail but meh, let’s not think too deeply about that.

Linda Liddle (McAdams) has been a company employee for 7 years and was recently promised a promotion to Vice-President status.  She’s an odd, socially awkward type but she’s one of the hardest workers in the firm and the person behind many of its best decisions.  The scummy Bradley fails to deliver on the promotion (he finds her to be strange) and an emotionally distraught Linda is furious.  Still, she maintains a semblance of professionalism by accompanying Bradley and his cronies on an important business trip to Bangkok.

Lo and behold, the plane crashes with Bradley and Linda waking up on the beach of a small, deserted Asian island.  Linda, a devout fan of the television series Survivor, is a know-it-all when it comes to building shelter, capturing water, and hunting food.  Bradley knows nothing and so he’s gone from the alpha male dishing out demands in the office… to a submissive nobody totally reliant on his new “boss” for survival.

I won’t spoil much more but Send Help goes down wild, unexpected paths with the characters becoming so unreasonable, that I didn’t know which one to root for.  They’re both as bad as each other at times.  It’s this element which I liked most because, like The War of the Roses, it goes against the grain of a traditional comedy.  Stars Rachel McAdams (Spotlight) and Dylan O’Brien (Twinless) dial up the insanity with their performances and, as director, Sam Raimi shocks audiences with several scenes (like one where Linda hunts a wild boar).

While I applaud the concept, the screenplay is bumpy.  It’s hard to reconcile the on-again, off-again friendship between the pair as we jump quickly between certain events.  Further, some of their “misadventures” are too goofy.  As an example, one plot point has them walking on a tiny mountain ledge (the visual effects aren’t great) for contrived reasons.  Those willing to look past these elements and lean into the absurdity are likely to find the most enjoyment.