BEATRIZ AT DINNER
(directed by Miguel Arteta, 2017)
** (out of 5)
*
> This dark social satire looked promising. Despite generally tepid reviews, I heard good word of mouth.
. The setup sounded like a liberal’s wet dream: massage therapist Selma Hayak is a big-hearted healer and feeler. Stranded at a client’s mansion, she finds herself odd-woman-out at a high-power corporate dinner party, celebrating the latest triumph of mercenary real estate magnate John Lithgow, a heartless rightwing exploiter of people and places who seems hellbent on grabbing his share of the spoils before the entire house of cards comes crashing down. Hayak’s new age “healer” is a Mexican expatriate, forced to migrate north when the economy of her small village hometown was destroyed by greedy developers… like him.
. This conflict promised lively debate, in a clash of cultures and values. The problem? Though always compelling to watch, Selma’s painfully sincere bleeding-heart do-gooder is just as two-dimensional as Lithglow’s clueless taker. Both actors are good here, but it is not enough. There is a sudden, red herring near the end that is sadly preferable to the actual ending, which I hated, hated, hated.
. This BEATRIZ was a disappointment. There just wasn’t much there, there. And the final choice made me reduce my rating by an entire star.
– Only two stars? Skip it.
*
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