Review: Ingrid Goes West

Prayer hands emoji.

Social media addict Ingrid (Aubrey Plaza) is fresh out of a mental institution following a disastrous breakdown. When she finds her new obsession, a popular Instagram user named Taylor Sloane (Elizabeth Olsen) Ingrid cashes in her inheritance check from her recently deceased mother and heads to California to insert herself into Taylor's life. 

I tend to roll my eyes a bit when I hear the complaint "people these days look at their phones too much!" Sure, there's times and places when you shouldn't but most of the time I just get bitterness from that statement. Ingrid though, she's worthy of having that criticism. She's probably the most sympathetic antagonist I've seen in a long time. Everything she's doing is wrong. By the way she gets into Taylor's life, to how she treats her well meaning land lord Dan (O'Shea Jackson Jr.) but you can't help but feel bad for her. She needs serious help and real friends.

This is Aubrey Plaza's best role to date because she's not playing herself for once. She shows range that I didn't know she had. Elizabeth Olsen is so convincing as Taylor it's almost a surprise that she avoids social media herself in real life. O'Shea Jackson is the real MVP for me. I loved his character so much.

Wyatt Russell, who if you watch Black Mirror you know as the lead from Playtest is also good in his smaller role as Taylor's husband. 

There was one glaring problem I felt the film had, and that's with the character Nicky. (Billy Magnussen) This isn't a knock at Magnussen, I think he played the role the way it was meant to, and by that I mean he was supremely annoying and I wanted to punch him in the face almost instantly. But I felt the way he was shoehorned in towards the end to mess up Ingrid's plan was unnecessary. I think they could've ended up in the same place without this character at all. He served to be an annoying thorn in Ingrid's side. If the script couldn't get around him, having him more sympathetic and less of a douchebag would've helped. I actually found myself on Ingrid's side during their scenes, which is not where I was supposed to be. I hated Nicky that much.

I think this is a really interesting film on what it means to be a popular social media user, and when someone takes it to far. Now excuse me while I go post this review on my social media. *hair flip*

Recommended: Yes

Grade: A-

Memorable Quote: "Don't smile, I think it will look better that way." - Taylor (Elizabeth Olsen)