Rating: Full

Genre: Comedy, Suspense, Thriller

Studios: Hulu/Neon/MRC

Cast: Jake Johnson, Anna Kendrick, Natalie Morales, Andy Samberg, Mary Holland, Emily Hampshire and Christopher Lloyd

Director: Jake Johnson

Writer: Jake Johnson

Producers: Ali Bell, Joe Hardesty and Jake Johnson

Music by: Dan Romer

Rated: R for language throughout

Release Date: 01/03/24

Runtime: 1h 25m

Tagline: Surviving is all about the company you keep.

Favorite Character: Tommy Walcott

Quote: “This Show is a Comedy”- Charlie

Fun Fact: the bar in the movie ‘La Cita’ means ‘The Meeting’ in spanish.

The Review: I have only heard of Jake Johnson from the Spiderverse films and I don’t watch New Girl so I may not be familiar with him. So, I’m starting to get familiar with him in his directorial debut. I am, however, am familiar with SNL’s Andy Sandberg and it was quite interesting with his comedy band ‘Lonely Island’ producing this film.

Johnson also wrote and starred in the film as a guy named Tommy who is suffering from a bad breakup and goes through the loss by exercising, working and drinking every day. That really doesn’t sound like a fun life at all. That all changes when a mysterious limo came by and who is sitting in the limo is none other than Andy Sandberg, inviting him in the limo for what is about to be a game changing adventure. Sounds a man’s fantasy, it evens feels like it, but it is really happening. If Tommy actually thinks about it, something awesome like this will always have one big catch.

This turns out to be a Dark Web reality show and he will be watched, every move! But if he survives 30 days without being hunted, he will win $1 million, which sounds pretty tempting but deadly. Now the good news is that there is a loophole, the hunters won’t kill him if he is within a few feet of someone, but he will be at risk if he is all alone. Sounds like this dark comedy is really in a social experiment genre.

I wasn’t expecting Johnson told immediately tell his mother and two sisters about the game, I mean we probably would in a same situation. And as we expect, they don’t believe him and assume that he is having mental issues, turning him into a person who the world thinks he’s crazy (but he isn’t). The first five days was no problem for Tommy but after that, the dark web show begins and things are getting tense. So his only option is to have anybody with him 24/7. Anybody. Even if its a homeless man named James. But before that, comes a suspenseful and hysterical moment of the film. Involving his sister’s boyfriend, him taking a crap and Johnson panicking…yeah, you probably might figure out what this is.

You might have heard Pitch Perfect’s Anna Kendrick is in the movie and you might be like, where is she? That’s what I was like, but thankfully, she appears in the movie at the same bar that was part of Tommy’s same old schedule. And as someone who is also participating in the game, so all they had to do way be within each other for the remaining of the game. Sounds easy right? Well, I wouldn’t hold my breath for that one because if you are in a movie, things will always take a radical turn.

I won’t say much about the ending, but by that time, the story really slipped. A very anticlimactic moment that would you will be like…really? That’s it? It also could use more of the humorous moments too, but Self Reliance did manage to teach the audience the same value of life that Tommy learned. It’s a squid game like social experiment that Johnson used to teach the audience and the results are various but entertaining.