Margaux (2022)★★★★★

This movie is so silly, and I loved every stupid, ridiculous minute of it. I watched this for a second time today, and I’m pretty sure I liked it even better than I did the first time around.

Since I’m pretty sure I’ll need to spoil a lot of this, I’ll start by saying that I absolutely recommend this movie to anyone who is wary of AI (or smart homes), social media influencers, AirBnBs, and…I don’t know, college undergraduates who all look wayyyy too pretty to be part of a “Nerd Herd”?

(As I said, I’m going to spoil some things) Look, is it clear that this was written by someone(s) who have no idea how computers work? Yes, almost immediately. Does that somehow just add to the charm? For me, yes, absolutely. From Hannah sitting in a library with literal textbooks open as she’s writing code, to Hannah looking at her laptop on the bed saying “I built a firewall around this room,” the computer fundamentals are…lacking. And yet…

Honestly, I shouldn’t like any of the characters in this movie. Devon and Kayla are hilariously oversexed, Drew is a pretty boy who apparently sucks at taking influencer photographs (okay okay, that makes me like him MORE), Lexi is just awful (though Margaux/Lexi is awesome), Clay is the most stereotypical stoner ever, AND YET…I love them all. I even love Lochlyn Munro’s William at the beginning.

This movie is hilarious. It’s campy and ridiculous. It’s hilarious hearing Siri (yes, Margaux is voiced by Susan Bennett, the original voice of the actual Siri) say things like “no cap” and “I’m just trying to smash,” the deaths are fantastic and fantastical, and even the fight scenes are amazing (and ridiculous).

So much of this movie makes no sense. There’s very little explanation about a lot of things (like the white goop that’s somehow also superglue??), and what explanations we do get almost make less sense than what goes unexplained. I think you should watch this movie. All of you. I love it.

Actually, the funniest part was that a few hours after watching this, I got an email from a sender just listed as “Margaux” and had to take a beat to regroup. It turns out it was from a real person, with a real last name, but for a minute there I was thinking “oh no…somehow she/it found me out…” And despite my theoretically better understanding of computer fundamentals, I don’t think I’d be able to fight or code my way out.