Heretic
Two missionaries knock on the wrong door in this uneven thriller
Hugh Grant gives great menace in this middling thriller
Sister Paxton and Sister Barnes (Chloe East and Sophie Thatcher) have a very clear set of rules for visits: Never go into a house without a woman present, only stay in the front room, and never stray from preaching the gospel. They repeat those rules to themselves before visiting the home of Mr. Reed (Hugh Grant), who called the church to express interest in joining.
Sister Barnes is skeptical. She rightly pauses when a man answers the door and though Mr. Reed seems harmless, she insists they come back when there is a woman present. Mr. Reed assures them that his wife is just in the kitchen, finishing her famous blueberry pie recipe for the girls, and will join them soon.
Uneasy, but hoping to report a successful convert into their fold, the women agree to go in. Mr. Reed, at first, is engaging and interested in their pitch for religious salvation.
…but then the questions start. Mr. Reed picks apart each argument they have, throwing snark and heresy into the fold. It’s frustrating and awkward, and that’s before they find out that Mrs. Reed doesn’t exist.
Trapped in a home with a man hellbent on breaking their convictions, Sisters Barnes and Paxton will have to fight with everything they have to find salvation. Is God listening to them? Or is Mr. Reed right?
Heretic is a film that should have been brilliant. It’s got a good cast, a solid concept, and some truly fun set design. But just as Reed picks apart the arguments of the two missionaries, Heretic seems to chip away at itself slowly before completely unraveling in the end.
Writers/directors Scott Beck and Bryan Woods don’t seem to know what they want to do with Heretic. Is it Marxist propaganda? Christian theology? A thriller? Magical realism? All of these ideas are floated, but none of them stick. The duo certainly know how to craft an interesting space (Reed’s house of horrors is fun to look at), but the movie feels like a truly interesting concept that wasn’t developed past its initial pitch.
That’s a shame, because Grant is working overtime to sell the movie. His Reed, though not backed up by the script, is a menacing figure. It’s clear Grant is delighting in his new era as a baddie/character actor, and he’s sinking his teeth into the role. He manages to be intimidating while looking like an adjunct philosophy professor at your local community college.
Thatcher, used to performing with moxy from her tenure on Yellowjackets, acquits herself the best out of the missionary duo. Her Sister is a mass of dark secrets and world-weary knowledge. But she’s never given a chance to do much other than look indignant. East is totally lost, relegated to hysterical reactions to just about everything.
Part of the problem is that the film lacks conviction. Sure, Reed mentions atrocities committed in the name of Jesus Christ, but he doesn’t really push on the insidious nature of organized religion. His arguments are all surface-level. It feels like being trapped in a room with the worst man you know who just watched an episode of Real Time with Bill Maher. For a man who designed a house to trap and break the beliefs of religious zealots, I expected a little more research.
It doesn’t help that the women are, basically, sweet little angels. There’s nothing ugly about their beliefs. Though they’re clearly meant to be some form of Mormon, we’re presented with the most tolerant form of the religion. These girls are just wide-eyed innocents who believe everything the church tells them without being homophobic, classist, racist, or cruel. When they’re challenged, they remain polite and stutter piteously like bullied children.
In a movie meant to challenge our concepts of religion, it does a bang-up job of making two martyrs our main characters. They don’t even bother Mr. Reed at home. They’re the types of missionaries who apparently only come and proselytize when called.
But even if the movie is meant to somehow convert viewers to a brand of Christianity, the film doesn’t make either missionary interesting enough to make a good case. Paxton, the missionary with a hinted-at dark past, does her best to counter Reed’s arguments, but her statements would be easily dismissed if Reed bothered to do anything but the most surface-level job of dismantling them.
It’s disappointing that a movie with so much potential ends up toothless by the time the credits roll.
Verdict: A great start and concept that needs salvation by the ending.
Heretic is rated R and is in theaters November 8
