Review by C.J. Bunce
If you haven’t yet witnessed the talent that is Samara Weaving, the new action movie Eenie Meanie is for you. It’s now streaming on Netflix. Years ago Roger Ebert remarked at the standout performance of Cameron Diaz among Jim Carrey’s crazy antics in Mask. And she want on to become a big box office draw. Weaving’s performance in this movie should garner similar acclaim. This is first a heist movie in the vein of Logan Lucky, Baby Driver, and Fast & Furious. Weaving is completely immersed in her role as a put-upon woman trying to move on from a tough background of foster homes and crime, and leave behind a guy who keeps holding her back. She is a top tier performer who could have been cast in half the roles taken by Margot Robbie. Weaving would have made a perfect Harley Quinn or Barbie. She hasn’t disappointed yet, whether as the star bride of Ready or Not, as Scarlett in Snake Eyes: G.I. Joe Origins, as the title character of The Babysitter, or in supporting roles in Ash vs. Evil Dead, Scream VI, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, Mystery Road, or Picnic at Hanging Rock. She’s just got it.
As the heroine Edie, a thief and getaway driver hamstrung by the world she’s stuck in, she brings some humanity into what could have been just another action movie.
Written and directed by Shawn Simmons, the writer of School of Rock, and filmed in Ohio on what must have been a small budget, the story introduces Edie months after breaking it off with life-long friend, fellow foster kid, and lifesaver John, played by Karl Glusman. Just as every hero has one person they rely on that the rest would say she should cast aside, Edie’s is John. He is his own worst enemy and unable to make good decisions. When Edie gets knocked unconscious during a heist at the bank where she works, viewers get the first clue that this isn’t your ordinary heist story. Edie wakes up recovering in the hospital. She’s okay, but on her way out the doctor shares some surprising medical new with her, which spins her world upside down.
Back in school after a life where her father, played by Steve Zahn (That Thing You Do!), raised her to break the law, she readies for an upcoming Economics test. She has the best possible support in the form of her bestie, played by Kyanna Simone, whos says all the right things in all the right ways. But she can’t leave well enough along and returns to see if there’s a future left with John. But he’s still in the middle of his latest bad con, this time kidnapping a local crime boss’s card counting numbers guy, played by WandaVision’s Randall Park, who he is hiding in a wooden crate. As Edie tries to get John to undo his mess, the unthinkable happens and John is into the kingpin even deeper.
Andy Garcia (The Untouchables, Dead Again) plays Nico, the same kingpin she worked for before he let her off the hook. To save John, Nico provides one opportunity for Edie (who he nicknamed Eenie Meanie because she was a mean teenager): A local casino is having a poker competition. The prize is $3 million and a new car, to be handed over at the casino upon culmination of the championship round. If Edie and her talent with getaway driving can secure the money and drive the car out of the casino and into Nico’s hands, he won’t kill John. Flash forward through some MacGyvering and creative montage sequences, and Edie and John have a plan, but not before trying to spin her dad back into doing one last job.
Nothing plays out as expected.
It’s not full of the fun and twists of Logan Lucky, and it doesn’t have the sweet romance of Baby Driver (it’s more like Bonnie and Clyde), but there’s something worth watching here because of Weaving’s earnest commitment to the role. And the movie is full of good car chases and driving action with a variety of cool cars.
Look for Marshawn Lynch as a criminal Edie encounters along the way, and Mike O’Malley as Nico’s righthand man. But a big surprise and nice bonus is Dean Winters–the Allstate insurance commercial Mayhem guy–playing an unusual car salesman.
It’s another solid picture for Samara Weaving, and a great introduction to the actress if you haven’t seen her in action yet. Watch Eenie Meanie, now streaming on Hulu.
