a_chinn Flawed but interesting black comedy about cults and deprogramming. The film starts out overtly comedic about a down on his luck author and cult expert on a very low rent book tour. On this darkly funny and depressing book tour he's approached by a couple who want his help rescuing their daughter form a cult. Their daughter, an excellent Mary Elizabeth Winstead, is then held captive in a a hotel room with the cult expert for a character duel along the lines of "Death and the Maiden" or "Oleanna," where interesting power dynamics emerge between the two. Leland Orser, who's on my list of great one-scene-performances for his one scene in "Seven" as the lust victim in the massage parlor, gives a great performance here as the troubled cult expert, though it's really Winstead who steals the film. While the script doesn't seem to gel as a whole and the end in particular seemed a bit contrived, the performances make this one worth watching.

Reno Rangan The film had more hidden facts than one gets in his casual viewing. If you were really focused, you would start to dig for some answers. The opening of the film was very smooth in a comedic sense. But that's not how the entire film going to be. When the story's purpose begins to roll, with an unexpected event the narration moves to a single location for almost the rest of the film with the limited cast. So it is where our guessing game commence.I must agree the writing was a bit cleverer than I projected. The film characters were not so complicated, but towards the end it looked like unavoidably becomes that way. At first, it promises to be a good entertainer and then turns to be smarter with the story development, but in a low key. The film does not say anything about its timeline, but seems it was in the 70s that inspired by the real deprogramming.I did not get the last 10-15 minutes of the film, but you know by guessing and visiting various film discussion forums on the net about what others thought about it gave more perspectives. But we still won't reach anywhere near what the writer intended to tell all of us. Compared to the opening, the end was totally a different contrast. In fact feels turned to be another genre and theme. So you would end watching it with the possibilities of like this and that. That means not all the viewers end up happy for what they just saw. Definitely it is for a certain kind of people, including for those has no intention of any expectations from the film.6/10

mjsreg Original, well acted, and well produced/edited.This film is well worth seeing if you like original, well produced movies.From the beginning you are never really sure where the characters are heading - until the end.The characters draw you into their world and keep you there. Each event and emotion portrayed by brilliant acting. I had never seen any of the cast in previous movies, so it was refreshing seeing new faces (to me) bring the story to life.Whatever expectations you have for this film just forget them and let the story telling take you where it is going to go.

Red_Identity The premise here was certainly interesting, and the performances were fine, and the mood good, yet why wasn't it better? The film seems to aim at really deep and complex questions, and while on the surface it seems to work, it also has a problem trying to find a balance in the comedic and more atmospheric tone. One of the two main characters seems to be part of the problem from the start, so even then we know it will be quite difficult to overcome the flaws. Mary Elizabeth Winstead is very good here, really gripping on to her character in surprising, unexpected ways, even if she can't really elevate the film that much more. Not a bad film with a lot of decent stuff, but not very great either