CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR
US, 2015, 91 minutes, Colour.
Nick Jonas, Isabel Lucas, Dermot Mulroney, Paul Sorvino, Graham Rogers, Kiki Harris, David Sherrill.
Directed by Elizabeth Allen.
If only the central character, singer Nick Jonas as Doug, had been familiar with the femme fatale films like Double Indemnity Fatal Attraction, the scenario might not have happened. So, for audiences, it is very familiar: the ingenuous young man, the seductive young woman, initiating relationship, the young man seduced, deceiving her husband, his being found dead, her self-defence explanation, police investigation, insurance investigation, the woman being unmasked – but, there is a twist at the end, with the insurance investigator complicit with the young woman and their both taking off with the money.
Isabel Lucas is the femme fatale, Paul Sorvino is the local sheriff, Dermot Mulrooney the violent husband who is murdered.
The early part of the film focuses on the sexual relationship – for younger audiences looking at Nick Jonas and remembering his career. The latter part of the film is the investigation and the unmasking.
1. The familiar story? Seduction and betrayal? Murder and scapegoating?
2. A younger version of the familiar story, the role of the femme fatale, her wits, choosing her victim, seduction, exploiting him?
3. North Carolina, the scenery, the town, the Bay, mansions, social life, the bars, yachts, the police? The musical score?
4. Doug, his story, voice-over, honest perspective, final moral perspective, the final question about doing it again? His age, with his parents, the holiday, well-known, his friends at the diner and their interchanges, sex talk, the girls, holidays in bikinis, the chance seeing of Lena? The effect on him? The encounter with Elliot, the yachts, his knowledge, the invitation to work on the yacht, Elliot repriminding him, his not giving full attention to his work?
5. The encounter with Lena, audience hindsight and her setting up Doug, the kiss, the sexual encounters, his complete infatuation, her leading him on? The absence of her husband, the encounters with him, his money and ambitions, his violence?
6. The effect on Doug, upsetting his life, the phone calls and messages, the meetings, the dangers?
7. Elliott dead, Lena’s explanation? Asking Doug for help? Not going to the police? His decision to help, Lena talking with his parents, his going to bed, going out on the boat, staging the accident? The irony of the scenes with the conscientious security guard, signing documents, his evidence that he had seen someone else on the boat?
8. The police chief, genial, his band, co-workers, investigating the case, sympathy for Doug?
9. The insurance investigator, her self-confidence, the interrogations, suspicions of Lena, targeting Doug? The interrogations? His parents’ reactions? His confiding in his friend and trying to remedy the situation? To recover the phone?
10. Doug in the house, getting the phone, Lena continuing seductive, the insurance investigator arriving, Lena pretending to be assaulted, the police and their reaction? The investigator taking Lena away, the revelation of the complicity, driving back, the phone?
11. Doug, the police, his going to jail, Lena and the investigator escaping and still being searched for?
12. A variation on the themes of Double Indemnity and Fatal Attraction – for younger audiences?
