Coup!, 2024.
Written and Directed by Joseph Schuman and Austin Stark.
Starring Peter Sarsgaard, Billy Magnussen, Sarah Gadon, Skye P. Marshall, Faran Tahir, Kristine Nielsen, Callum Vinson, Willa Dunn, and Fisher Stevens.
SYNOPSIS:
A mischievous cook leads an uprising against a wealthy family on a seaside estate.
It is surprising that, at least to my knowledge, it has taken this long for a film about the Spanish flu to be made, not so subtly pointing out the strong similarities between that time and the most recent global pandemic. Writers/directors Joseph Schuman and Austin Stark have also infused Coup! with a class warfare, eat-the-rich angle that is equally blunt but also far too familiar and derivative of recent works to function anywhere near as effective as observing characters in the early 1900s going through a health crisis and under lockdown.
The other unique angle here is that the wealthy journalist isolating his family overseas (making for sly criticism of modern reckless Americans abandoning the country to be reckless and wild somewhere with fewer cases, stupidly assuming the same thing won’t happen there) is a performative progressive comfortable misleading and outright deceiving his readers with no self-awareness. Jay Horton (Billy Magnussen, gradually more and more amusing as his world and image come crumbling down) paints himself as a hero on the front lines when, in reality, he is holed up and essentially ordering a small group of servants to endanger themselves day after day to get whatever supplies they need. Whatever heart of gold he pretends to have is immediately transparent, forcing these workers to live together in a small, cramped outhouse away from the estate. Again, it’s a case of someone progressive in theory but not in practice, which sadly exists among some wealthy elites today.
Among those workers is the flamboyant, jewelry-adorned chef Floyd Monk (Peter Sarsgaard tearing up the screen with an intelligent, charismatic, and rebellious swagger), new to the ranks and instantaneously questioning those around him why they are so complacent being treated subhuman when they are risking their health daily for this family to live happily, and more specifically, Jay to continue putting out a false image of himself in the papers while also anxiously awaiting some kind of promotion and public adoration.
Little by little, Floyd wins the support of his peers while casually and calmly worming his way into the family’s lives and dismantling the façade. A vegetarian family, Floyd quickly and easily turns Jay into a hunter, especially as he sees the respect it earns from his wife (Sarah Gadon) and children. Still, Jay always remains skeptical that Floyd has sinister motives, and so do we, considering a startling prologue involving death. Speaking of that wife, Floyd also uses that charm to sway her over to his side romantically, especially as Jay increasingly becomes more abrasive and paranoid over how likable the cook presents himself.
Perhaps this review makes it sound like the film criticizes Jay for not being a traditional manly man, but that would be a disingenuous reading: it’s more about how he is so deceptive and full of himself that there isn’t much redeeming about him or anyone who does actually practice what they preach. Nevertheless, entertainment is about all Coup! has going for it because the trajectory of all of this is predictable until the end, with little to no swerves. Thankfully, the performances lean into the fun of this concept and juxtaposition between past and present pandemics, not playing the characters too seriously. It’s a film that knows it needs at least to have some lightness despite its obviousness and effectively succeeds.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★
Robert Kojder is a member of the Chicago Film Critics Association and the Critics Choice Association. He is also the Flickering Myth Reviews Editor. Check here for new reviews, follow my Twitter or Letterboxd, or email me at MetalGearSolid719@gmail.com
