Review: 'Ready or Not,' love is a battlefield

Fox Searchlight, 2019.

Hugo Weaving's niece, Samara Weaving is fun to watch, but "Ready or Not" finds itself caught between horror and comedy...and it comes up short in both areas.

Grade: C+

And you think your in-laws are the worst.

The premise of "Ready or Not" can be described as implausible and even ridiculous, but it can't be called unimaginative. Grace (Weaving) is about to wed Alex (Mark O'Brien), a filthy rich member of the Le Domas family, on the grounds of the Le Domas's humongous mansion home. The estate is overseen by Alex's parents, Tony (Henry Czerny) and Becky (Andie MacDowell), and the entire immediate family is in town for the festivities. The Le Domas's built their wealth in the gaming industry - board games, playing cards and games of chance. Marrying into this clan can be a dangerous proposition, quite literally, and Grace must partake in an old family "tradition" in order to become "one of them."

Boiling it down for you, Grace is locked in the mansion on her wedding night while the entire family hunts her down with guns, axes and crossbows. She must not survive until dawn, or a worse fate awaits the entire Le Domas family. Alex is a bit torn and tries to help Grace navigate her way through, while Grace simply does everything and anything she can to survive.

The best part about "Ready or Not" is that it plays as a dark comedy...there are some laugh-out-loud moments peppered sporadically throughout. The problem is that this tone sort of comes and goes, and the moments of humor and levity are too few and far between. When it does land upon these devilish moments, "Ready or Not" works as a stylish, bizarre thriller. But there's just too much time in-between the laughs, filled with scene after scene of uninspired horror/thriller tropes.

Weaving is charismatic enough to make the journey bearable, but "Ready or Not" ultimately doesn't know what it wants to be. As a horror film, it's not all that scary or effective, and as a comedy, it just isn't consistent enough. That leaves the audience wanting more of both, which in and of itself is a dangerous game to play.

Grade: C+

Genre: Horror, Mystery, Thriller.
Run Time: 1 hour 35 minutes.
Rated R.

Starring: Samara Weaving, Adam Brody, Mark O'Brien, Henry Czerny, Andie MacDowell, Melanie Scrofano, Nicky Guadagni, Kristian Bruun.

Directed by Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett ("Devil's Due,").

"Ready or Not" is in theaters now.