Review: Magpie

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Official synopsis: A couple, Annette and Ben (Daisy Ridley and Shazad Latif) find their lives turned upside-down when their daughter (Hiba Ahmed) is cast alongside a controversial major star. (Matilda Lutz)

I find it amusing that in a film where a couple is having issues and actively working against each other would have parts of the actual film doing the same thing. On one hand, you have the actors giving very committed, nuanced performances. Especially Ridley. She's stoic yet overwhelmed and you want to scream at Ben through the screen to just HELP her. (Putting a pillow over his head and ignoring the crying baby in the middle of the night? Unforgiveable.) Then on the other hand, you have the composer who wrote a score that is trying its hardest to make this into a corny Lifetime thriller. It reminded me a lot of May December, which is also a good film with a terrible score. It just doesn't fit. It's so over the top and ridiculous. 

Magpie might be a hard sell at first, but you are rewarded for your time (a brisk 90 minutes) by the end of it. It does something at one point that I didn't expect and I always give a film props when it catches me off guard. Because it has such a tight run time, it does involve quite a bit of exposition regarding Annette and Ben's past relationship. This works in the films favor, because it would be a lot more misery to sit through. 

Overall, while not perfect, there's plenty to enjoy while watching this film, especially the ending. I'm very curious of your thoughts if you've seen this already. Tell me in the comments!

Magpie is now streaming on Hulu

Grade: B

Comments

  1. thevoid99May 13, 2025 at 2:11 PM

    I think I have this on my watchlist as Daisy Ridley is putting in some interesting work post-Star Wars as I hope she gets more attention for what she is doing.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Brittani BurnhamMay 15, 2025 at 8:03 AM

      She really has been! I've liked a lot of the stuff she's done so far.

      Delete
  2. AnonymousMay 15, 2025 at 7:03 AM

    This is Birgit…I have not even heard of it. I. Not sure I will see it, sounds a little…dull. :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. ruthMay 17, 2025 at 9:16 PM

    It was fun meeting Ridley and Bateman at TCFF when they were promoting this film. I gave it the same rating and Latif's character is so infuriating! I guess he's supposed to be that way so he did a great job, ahah.

    ReplyDelete

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