The Plot
A few months after graduating from high school, small-town football hero Mike Donaldson (Matt Long) returns from his new life at Northwestern University for the Homecoming retirement of his old jersey. While he's moved on to bigger and better things -- including a new girlfriend, Elizabeth (Jessica Stroup), whom he brings home to meet the folks -- life in town remains stagnant. His cousin Billy (Michael Landes) is still a cop and doesn't think that Mike realizes how good he has it, especially when it comes to Mike's ex, Shelby (Mischa Barton), who still runs the local bowling alley.Although Mike assures Elizabeth that she has nothing to worry about regarding Shelby, he's surprised to learn that Shelby thought that their breakup was just a temporary solution to his going away to college. Aw-kward. Tensions cool, though, when Shelby plasters on a faux smile and welcomes Elizabeth by plying her with alcohol, knowing that she'll be drunk when it comes time to meet Mike's parents. Realizing her predicament, Elizabeth opts to spend the night in a motel to dry out.
Through a series of unlikely circumstances, however, Elizabeth finds herself hoofing it down a deserted road later that night, suitcase in tow. Shelby happens to drive by, and by "by" I mean "accidentally runs over Elizabeth." Panicked, Shelby takes her unconscious rival to her house and hooks her up with all of the painkillers her ill mother had taken before her death a few months earlier.
Thus begins a cat-and-mouse game between the two young women, as Shelby uses the situation to her advantage by prolonging Elizabeth's capitivity and trying to make Mike believe that she's dumped him, while Elizabeth tries simply to survive and escape her newfound prison.
The End Product
Homecoming is anything but original. Its by-the-numbers thriller plot starts out Fatal Attraction and ends up Misery, down to an obligatory "hobbling"-esque scene in which Shelby lays the smack down on Elizabeth for attempting to escape. It's predictable with a thoroughly underwhelming (and borderline ridiculous) climax.Still, good performances by Barton, Stroup, Long and Landes and intriguing character development buoy the hackneyed plot. What could be a group of flat, thriller-standard caricatures ends up the subject of an involving character study of four people with divergent goals whose lives intertwine under tragic circumstances. Barton's Shelby isn't a typical, insane Hollywood "single white female" villalin; she actually doesn't mean to hit Elizabeth with her car but rather gets wrapped up in a situation born of desperation and a string of bad luck.
The end result is solidly entertaining in a TV movie-of-the-week sort of way, told at a brisk pace with nice production value -- even if you know where it's going the entire time.
The Skinny
- Acting: B- (A solid, professional cast delivers at a level higher than the plot achieves.)
- Direction: C+ (Engaging but lacks real thrills or scares.)
- Script: C+ (Overall plot is shamelessly derivative, but the characters are well rounded and intriguing.)
- Gore/Effects: C (Just a couple of short gore scenes of Elizabeth's torment.)
- Overall: C+ (Unoriginal but compelling character study.)
Homecoming is directed by Morgan J. Freeman and is not yet rated by the MPAA. Release date: July 17, 2009.
