Ingrid is a stupendous Dark Comedy that’s more than Aubrey Plaza doing her trademark psycho character long perfected with Parks & Rec and The Little Hours. To me it’s also a dig on how lame and shallow the “Instagram Famous” are. It’s what this movie appears to be via its trailer and through the first act when Ingrid crashes another person’s wedding. Meanwhile, you’re asking yourself, Does Ingrid know the bride? Or is it only through Instagram and the bride’s annoying aphorisms prefaced with the pretentious “hashtag”? The latter being the style for stalking.
After assaulting the bride, getting arrested and sentenced to a mental-health institution for a few weeks, Ingrid returns to her recently deceased mother’s house; she doesn’t have anywhere else to go, being unemployed. Sadly, Ingrid returns to the same unhealthy behaviors she had to be treated for; spending too much time on her iPhone posting likes and comments to strangers’ Instagram/Facebook crap. This leads Ingrid to becoming very focused on Taylor, an influencer (a polite word for attention whore struggling to be a professional shill) living in Los Angeles. Days later, she receives a huge check (around $40,000) from her mother’s life insurance policy and she’s off to the West Coast to fuel her new obsession…making Taylor her best friend!
I don’t want to spoil how the story plays out as there a few odd, dark turns. What I will elaborate on are the details I loved. Namely, how superficial and plastic Taylor is. If you’re an older Gen X type as I am, you just want to puke all over her for how sickening the crap spewing from her mouth is. Taylor’s husband Ezra is somewhat better and more grounded despite his crap “art”; a hotel-quality painting/photo of horses stampeding he bought and then painted the words “Squad Goals” on it. Definitely not art, it’s garbage young people buy at the Urban Outfitters to put up in their dorm room next to a Bob Marley poster. Ingrid wants to be friends desperately so she endures their joint vapidity; or is she such a naive, empty vessel lacking the social intelligence to see how shallow Taylor is.
Taylor’s brother Nicky shows up later and he’s as toxic as Taylor is saccharine. What makes Nicky the instant villain is Ezra’s great dislike of him and he immediately begins a mean-spirited, “passive-aggressive” campaign to cut Ingrid out of Taylor’s inner circle. Again, given her recent, fragile mental and spiritual state, what follows in the third act is what shaped my core assessment. Ingrid Goes West is also about the our human need for connection, not fame, not money nor being a guru spouting off Wal-Mart wisdom.
Lastly, I would be amiss to ignore O’Shea Jackson Jr.’s performance as Ingrid’s landlord Dan, the most grounded main character in a land of phonies. His pipe dream is to get his Batman movie script bought and produced by a major studio but at least he doesn’t say fake things nor pretend to like avocado toast.
If you’re into Dark Humor along the same lines as the two ultimate films of the subgenere, World’s Greatest Dad or Uncle Nick, Ingrid Goes West is great addition to the list and you’ll like it. Everybody else? Probably just Aubrey Plaza fanatics. Sadly, Ingrid Goes West left Hulu at the beginning of August 2022. At this time you can only rent/buy it through Amazon and Apple. Showtime Anytime streaming has it until October 2, 2022.
Ingrid Goes West
Ingrid is a stupendous Dark Comedy that’s more than Aubrey Plaza doing her trademark psycho character long perfected with Parks & Rec and The Little Hours. To me it’s also a dig on how lame and shallow the “Instagram Famous” are. It’s what this movie appears to be via its trailer and through the first act when Ingrid crashes another person’s wedding. Meanwhile, you’re asking yourself, Does Ingrid know the bride? Or is it only through Instagram and the bride’s annoying aphorisms prefaced with the pretentious “hashtag”? The latter being the style for stalking.
After assaulting the bride, getting arrested and sentenced to a mental-health institution for a few weeks, Ingrid returns to her recently deceased mother’s house; she doesn’t have anywhere else to go, being unemployed. Sadly, Ingrid returns to the same unhealthy behaviors she had to be treated for; spending too much time on her iPhone posting likes and comments to strangers’ Instagram/Facebook crap. This leads Ingrid to becoming very focused on Taylor, an influencer (a polite word for attention whore struggling to be a professional shill) living in Los Angeles. Days later, she receives a huge check (around $40,000) from her mother’s life insurance policy and she’s off to the West Coast to fuel her new obsession…making Taylor her best friend!
I don’t want to spoil how the story plays out as there a few odd, dark turns. What I will elaborate on are the details I loved. Namely, how superficial and plastic Taylor is. If you’re an older Gen X type as I am, you just want to puke all over her for how sickening the crap spewing from her mouth is. Taylor’s husband Ezra is somewhat better and more grounded despite his crap “art”; a hotel-quality painting/photo of horses stampeding he bought and then painted the words “Squad Goals” on it. Definitely not art, it’s garbage young people buy at the Urban Outfitters to put up in their dorm room next to a Bob Marley poster. Ingrid wants to be friends desperately so she endures their joint vapidity; or is she such a naive, empty vessel lacking the social intelligence to see how shallow Taylor is.
Taylor’s brother Nicky shows up later and he’s as toxic as Taylor is saccharine. What makes Nicky the instant villain is Ezra’s great dislike of him and he immediately begins a mean-spirited, “passive-aggressive” campaign to cut Ingrid out of Taylor’s inner circle. Again, given her recent, fragile mental and spiritual state, what follows in the third act is what shaped my core assessment. Ingrid Goes West is also about the our human need for connection, not fame, not money nor being a guru spouting off Wal-Mart wisdom.
Lastly, I would be amiss to ignore O’Shea Jackson Jr.’s performance as Ingrid’s landlord Dan, the most grounded main character in a land of phonies. His pipe dream is to get his Batman movie script bought and produced by a major studio but at least he doesn’t say fake things nor pretend to like avocado toast.
If you’re into Dark Humor along the same lines as the two ultimate films of the subgenere, World’s Greatest Dad or Uncle Nick, Ingrid Goes West is great addition to the list and you’ll like it. Everybody else? Probably just Aubrey Plaza fanatics. Sadly, Ingrid Goes West left Hulu at the beginning of August 2022. At this time you can only rent/buy it through Amazon and Apple. Showtime Anytime streaming has it until October 2, 2022.