Written by Robert Scucci | Published
Acting takes many shapes and sizes, and some people like to push their dreams to dangerous extremes. in 2017 Take me involves an extreme form of role-playing in the form of fictional kidnapping scenarios, some more successful than others, as part of a fictional and wish-fulfilling business run by its unquestionably talented protagonist. The woman who paid him to abduct seems to know nothing about her business, forcing him to make amends or face arrest.
A comedy of errors that leans heavily on slapstick and screwball, Take me it’s one of those strong, fun hostage stories that treat you psychologically while still rooting for the bad guy. Or are you a good person? The only way to find out is to watch the adventure unfold because you really have to see it to believe it.
That’s an Interesting Idea There, Ray!
Directed by and starring Pat Healy, Take me focuses on his character Ray Moody, a businessman whose new kidnapping business fails to take off. No financial institution in their right mind will pay for his business, which involves kidnapping clients for 8 hours so that they can fulfill their kidnapping dreams.
Ray truly believes he is helping people because he sees it as exposure therapy. For example, one of his clients is trying to stop cheating on his diet, so Ray kidnaps him, forces him to eat cheeseburgers, and lets him go in hopes that this will stop the behavior. It makes a lot of sense, but Ray’s sincerity makes it strangely believable.
Much to the disapproval of her sister Natalie (Alycia Delmore), Ray borrows from her husband Tom (Mark Kelly) to keep the lights on. Fortunately for Ray, he receives a call from a woman named Anna St. Blair (Taylor Schilling), who wants to survive a 48-hour hostage situation at a price she can’t refuse. Here’s the kicker: he wants her to be violent with him.
Rightfully reluctant at first, Ray accepts the offer when part of the money is wired to his account, giving him little reason to doubt the job. Ray stalks and watches over Anna before she sets off on the weekend. At first, Anna gives in to his detailed situation, but as time goes on, she begins to act like she doesn’t know who Ray is, why he’s been captured, or what he’s talking about.
As you would expect, Ray panics. If he’s telling the truth, that means he’s legally kidnapped an innocent person, and the weekend goes from there.
We Gotta Get The Hell Out Of Dodge!
From this point forward, Take me it becomes a busy course correction as Ray is constantly at odds with Anna, who always laughs. He threatens to implicate the authorities, and refuses to let her go until they can get over what he insists is a misunderstanding. She has a paper trail and voicemails, but Anna says she kidnapped a woman she’s not.
Unsure whether to surrender or move on, Ray finds himself in a very precarious position because he went into all of this believing he was providing a compromise service.
Never fully lays all its cards on the table, Take me it escalates to absurdity as Ray and Anna make out for a while before they hit it off again. The on-screen chemistry between Pat Healy and Taylor Schilling thrives in a confrontation centered around misinformation and business malpractice, in which both actors fully commit. A comedic ebb and flow permeates each developing situation just before it reaches a point of no return.
Cool Break from Stranger Things
To test its folly without exhausting its reception, Take me clocks in at 83 minutes, making it shorter than your average episode Stranger Things. So when the next season 5 drops do nothing but disappoint you, you can switch to this movie without leaving the Netflix app. You might as well add it to your lineup because you’ll need some light to finish the weekend.
