Movie Review - Suburbicon

The planned community of Suburbicon is a is a great place to live. the bustling town has its own school, police, fire department and an overabundance of diversity. With Suburbicon being the perfect place to start or, raise a family; sure the town would welcome its new neighbors with open arms. The film opens with a portly letter carrier, on his route throughout Suburbicon, delivering the day's mail with his patented shit-eating grin. The town is buzzing about the newest residents until, the letter carrier discovers that they're black. *GASP!!*

None of that matters to Gardner Lodge (Matt Damon) who, survived a home invasion with his son Nicky (Noah Jupe), wife Rose (Julianne Moore) and twin sister in law Margaret (Julianne Moore). Gardner is eerily calm as he tells Nicky that "some men are going to take what they want and leave". The family is tied up and chloroformed, waking up in the hospital in the morning; all except Rose who was killed in the attack.

Meanwhile, the Mayers family is dealing with a different set of problems, as the town isn't as welcoming as the promotional video would suggest. From snide looks, to town hall meetings, the Mayers remain stoic and unintimidated by the growing mob.

From here the film splits into two separate but not equal plots: The Mayers' plight and rapidly developing racial tension in the town takes a back seat to the murderous rabbit hole Gardner goes down. As the plot thickens with the Lodge family, the escalating racism is a not too subtle afterthought, used almost as comic relief. Which is shameful because the Mayers' story is wholly more interesting than anything Matt Damon is doing.

Suburbicon could've been better than it was, but it turned out to be a big misfire. Why use fervent racism as a subplot for a typical quirky murder-mystery dark comedy? Little makes sense in this film that seems to warn you, the viewer, that the film is going to a very weird place. Aside from a memorable performance from Noah Jupe, Suburbicon isn't worth the backlash it's getting on social media.

Verdict: C-

Rated: R @ 105 mins