Greta: Film Review

You can always sign me up for a psychological thriller, but one that stars Isabelle Huppert and Chloe Grace Moretz gets a definite yes, yes, yes from me. Sadly, Greta wasn’t as satisfying as I’d hoped it would be and it was unexpectedly trashy.

Moretz plays Frances, a Boston girl new to Manhattan. One day she discovers a handbag on the subway and picks it up and takes it back to its owner Greta (Huppert). They become unlikely friends until Frances realises Greta has been pulling this trick for years. Frances tries to distance herself from the European but she begins stalking and harassing her.

The idea for Greta sounded promising and exciting albeit stupid – who would honestly pick up a random handbag on the subway these days?! – but it didn’t come through on that promise. It made me think of old-school thrillers and it was enjoyable in a trashy and cheesy way.

The storyline is very predictable – I called most plot developments before they happened so that dampened down the thrills somewhat. I also found it quite funny and I don’t know if that was deliberate or not? Some moments were just too ridiculous, cliched and others were so stupid – why would you enter your apartment and leave the door open and light off when being stalked?! Amateur hour.

Moretz was the lead and she was fine enough but her character was annoying because she made so many dumb decisions. I discovered Huppert with Elle so I knew she would be perfect for this part. She was fabulously dark and twisted. I also liked Maika Monroe as Frances’ housemate Erica, she had a great attitude. She should be in more films!

I liked Greta but I wanted to love it. It needed more unexpected thrills – ones not given away by the trailer – and less silliness. It wasn’t scary but it was definitely creepy throughout, tense towards the end and had a couple of jumpy and gruesome moments. It just felt all a bit camp? I enjoyed it but it failed to deliver on my expectations.

In cinemas Thursday 18th April