In our “The Good, the Bad, and the Verdict” film reviews, Joseph and Mike give their thoughts on a slice of cinema. For this installment, it’s the hair-raising tale Sorry, Charlie from Colton Tran.
Synopsis
Remote helpline volunteer Charlie (Kathleen Kenny) is targeted by a stranger who lures women from their homes with a recording of a crying baby.
The Good
Joseph: Sorry, Charlie boasts a fine lead performance from Kenny, who shows an impressive array of emotions and makes it easy for viewers to invest in her character. Tran shows solid timing in the suspense department, and he obviously knows his way around a thriller.
Mike: As a remote employee of an emotional help line, she’s faced with a number of different calls ranging from a near-suicidal teen girl to prank callers, Kathleen Kenny is great in her role as protagonist, Charlie, realistically delivering a number of different reactions as needed. She’s also tasked with showing us the emotional turmoil she herself is going through as some of the calls hit a little too close to home, eventually giving us a crafty and determined “final girl” (is she really a ‘Final Girl’ if there’s no other girls, though? Hmmm).
The Gentleman, the antagonist of the film and the source of Charlie’s troubles, is a suitably creepy looking chap in a tuxedo, top hat, and a skull mask, who creates some pretty tense moments by doing nothing but staring straight ahead.
The Bad
Joseph: I don’t like to give away too much about plot in my reviews, but I need to state that Sorry, Charlie delivers a twist that I predict will be a divisive one. It’s bound to have some viewers standing and cheering, others groaning and rolling their eyes, and some, like me, rubbing their chins wondering how a certain character could not have already known what is revealed. If we had a “The Iffy” category instead of “The Bad,” I would place these thoughts there, but obviously, this surprise didn’t work well for me. Also, about 25 minutes in, viewers are already shown 2 Chekhov’s knives, a pair of Chekhov’s scissors (with multiple Chekhov’s guns following not long after), as well as a plethora of PTSD-triggered false alarms. There’s setting up for an obvious confrontation, and then there is overdoing it somewhat — though I admit that there is some clever play with such set-ups later on. I’m also not so sure that this villain required a mask.
Mike: Take away the creepy outfit that The Gentleman decks himself out in and Sorry, Charlie is just another “Lifetime Movie” revenge story. There’s nothing surprising about what unspools; all choices made are textbook examples of what to or to NOT do in certain situations. Events are dictated by script only and not logic or natural story progression which will most likely result in some very head-scratching “Why?” feelings from viewers. As if there was a need to overcompensate for these shortcomings, writer Luke Genton unloads Chekov’s Arsenal but then promptly discards each and every item until the final one. All of this culminates in an ending so predictable you may actually end up being surprised due the sheer “expectedness” of it.
The Verdict
Joseph: Sorry, Charlie is like a stalk-and-slash movie with lots more of the former than the latter, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it is pretty obvious from the get-go where everything is headed. It follows many of the same beats as last year’s Minacious, which also involves a remote phone call employee being stalked by a psycho, though the villains have different motivations. I would recommend it for Kenny’s performance and to see which side of the fence you fall regarding the big reveal, and for psycho-stalker–cinema completists.
Mike: Despite a pretty harsh “Bad” section, I actually almost really liked Sorry, Charlie, but I suspect the majority of that feeling is based on Kenny’s performance which I was totally sold on. There’s nothing here we haven’t seen before and, despite a cool and creepy looking outfit, the stalker himself is pretty unimpressive when you consider the majority of his moves are implausible and only work because the script needs them to. There are worse movies out there that follow this same template so while I can’t give it a hearty recommendation, I’d still say it’s worth a watch, if only for Kathleen Kenny.
Sorry, Charlie, from Colton Tran, is playing as part of Florida’s Popcorn Frights Film Festival, which runs August 10–20, 2023 with both in-person screenings and a virtual lineup available to viewers in the United States. For more information, visit https://popcornfrights.eventive.org/welcome.
Directed By: Colton Tran
Written By: Luke Genton
Starring: Kathleen Kenny, Maria Olsen, Colton Tran
Run Time: 1h 15m
Rating: NR
Release Date: 2023
Unfortunately there is no trailer available as of our viewing and review