F Marry Kill
"F Marry Kill" is a little chaste for critic Alec Toombs' taste.
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A lot of us probably played F*ck, Marry, Kill as kids, teenagers or sadly, even into adulthood. It’s a game in which one person names three people to another person and they decide with whom they’d have coitus, enter into matrimony or exterminate … sophisticated stuff.
This game serves as loose inspiration for “F Marry Kill” (now available in select theaters and on digital) in which Lucy Hale stars as Eva, recently single after getting out of an 8-year relationship to douchey, mustached cop Jake (RJ Fetherstonhaugh). She’s getting by with a little help from her friends including overprotective big sister Valerie (Brooke Nevin), bestie/boss Kelly (Virginia Gardner, memorable from “Halloween” (2018) and “Fall”), single mingler Robin (Bethany Brown) and Anthony (Jayr Tinaco).
Eva’s reeling when she discovers Jake is engaged to his police partner Winnie (Laura Yenga) and decides she must start dating. She has three suitors including Norman (Samer Salem), who’s hired by Valerie to install a security system in Eva’s apartment, Kyle (Jedidiah Goodacre, late of “Woman of the Hour”), a former schoolmate-turned-veterinarian and Mitch (Brendan Morgan), a good-looking bar owner with whom she’s engaging in no strings attached (to her at least) sex.
Turns out one of these dudes may be the infamous Swipe Right Killer, who’s using dating apps in order to prey upon single women.
“F Marry Kill” is directed by Laura Murphy (she helmed multiple episode of the Comedy Central series “Awkwafina is Nora from Queens”) and scripted by Ivan Diaz, Dan Sheinkman and Meghan Brown. It was less horrific than I was expecting it to be and served more as a comedic mystery-thriller. It’s not especially good, but it’s plenty entertaining. I could’ve gone for more sex and violence, but I got a decent amount of laughs and didn’t figure out the killer’s identity until late in the picture.
A lot of the reason this works is Hale, who makes for an appealing lead even when Eva’s acting erratically. She’s strongly supported by Nevin and Gardner. I especially enjoyed the manic, neurotic energy brought by the former to the role of Valerie. She’s the comedic MVP of the proceedings.
“F Marry Kill” won’t be for hardcore horrorheads, but it’ll likely appeal to young women who listen to true crime podcasts. I could certainly see a group of girlfriends getting together to watch this over a couple pizzas and a bottle or two of wine and having a good time.