{"id":431329,"date":"2026-01-26T19:33:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-26T19:33:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/431329\/"},"modified":"2026-01-26T19:33:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-26T19:33:10","slug":"sam-raimis-gleefully-gross-send-help-is-a-dark-workplace-comedy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/431329\/","title":{"rendered":"Sam Raimi’s gleefully gross ‘Send Help’ is a dark workplace comedy"},"content":{"rendered":"

The script, by Damian Shannon and Mark Swift, buffers its rage with a very funny streak of pitch black humor. They\u2019ve crafted a cross between Lina Wertm\u00fcller\u2019s controversial 1974 desert island satire \u201cSwept Away\u201d and the Stephen King horror movie, \u201cMisery<\/a>.\u201d \u201cSend Help\u201d exchanges Wertm\u00fcller\u2019s class-based war between a rich woman and a poor man for a tale of workplace politics. However, they adhere to the battle of the sexes concept while shifting the power dynamic. And of course, they keep the desert island. <\/p>\n

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\"RachelRachel McAdams as Linda Liddle and Dylan O\u2019Brien as Bradley Preston in “Send Help.”20th Century Studios<\/p>\n

After a 26 year absence from R-rated filmmaking, Raimi\u2019s homecoming is a reason to celebrate. Not that he was sitting on his laurels; \u201cDrag Me To Hell\u201d is easily the most gruesome PG-13 rated movie ever made. Like that film, \u201cSend Help\u201d focuses on a female protagonist in the most dire of straits. Both films also have titles that should be taken literally.<\/p>\n

As Linda Liddle, Rachel McAdams reunites with her \u201cDoctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness<\/a>\u201d director. Linda is a socially awkward Strategy and Planning department employee who is preternaturally good at crunching numbers. Her gift for seeing trends and creating impressive reports highlighting them made her indispensable to the CEO of consulting firm Preston Industries. <\/p>\n

Her seven years of hard work put her in line for a promotion to vice president once the CEO\u2019s dudebro son (and Linda\u2019s secret crush), Bradley (Dylan O\u2019Brien from \u201cTwinless\u201d), takes his late father\u2019s position. Unfortunately, Bradley thinks otherwise. He promotes his frat brother Donovan, (Xavier Samuel) a guy who\u2019s been at Preston only six months, to vice president. Donovan has been passing off Linda\u2019s reports as his own, and the boys\u2019 club-style environment lets him get away with it.<\/p>\n

Bradley also interviews women based on what they look like, hinting that their job description includes sexual activity. Never mind that he\u2019s engaged to the statuesque Zuri (Edyll Ismail), who flashes her enormous diamond ring in Linda\u2019s face as if she knows Linda has a thing for her man.<\/p>\n

\"DylanDylan O\u2019Brien in “Send Help.”Brook Rushton\/20th Century Studios<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Bradley\u2019s advisor Franklin (Dennis Haysbert) advocates for Linda by suggesting that she attend a crucial business meeting in Bangkok. Since she knows the numbers far better than Donovan, Bradley reluctantly invites her while barely hiding his disdain. <\/p>\n

While on the company jet, Donovan shows Bradley and his buddies a video he discovered. It\u2019s Linda\u2019s audition tape for \u201cSurvivor<\/a>.\u201d She\u2019s a huge fan of the reality show; in an earlier scene, we see her watching an episode with her pet parrot. This should have been Bradley\u2019s first clue that she may know something about being a survivalist. <\/p>\n

Instead, the guys humiliate Linda with their mocking laughter. She\u2019s hurt, but the guys are about to be reminded of that famous adage: God don\u2019t like ugly. When violent turbulence hits the plane, Linda is the only one who puts on her seatbelt. The guys think seatbelts are woke, which is why they\u2019re all sucked out of the plane when a gigantic hole is blown in the fuselage. <\/p>\n

\"DylanDylan O\u2019Brien and Rachel McAdams as Linda Liddle in “Send Help.”Brook Rushton\/20th Century Studios<\/p>\n

Or so Linda thinks. She\u2019s the first person to wash up on the deserted island that serves as the film\u2019s second act setting. A day or so later, Bradley washes up, too. After being nursed back to health by a surprisingly knowledgeable Linda, Bradley treats her like dirt. She reminds him that he won\u2019t survive long enough to be rescued because he does not possess her skillset. Bradley\u2019s ego needs some serious humbling before he\u2019s willing to accept orders from a woman. <\/p>\n

From here, \u201cSend Help\u201d becomes a two-hander with characters whose actions will make you shift allegiances more than once. When it becomes clear that they may not be rescued, things get ugly\u2014and hilariously grotesque. You can probably figure out where the movie is headed, but that doesn\u2019t make the journey any less fun. The bloody battle between Linda and a wild boar provides the first big thrills of 2026.<\/p>\n

Though the two actors have great chemistry together, O\u2019Brien is better when he\u2019s a hissable villain than when he\u2019s appealing to Linda\u2019s better nature. McAdams fares better on the island when the tables are turned. It\u2019s hard to convince anyone that Regina George from \u201cMean Girls\u201d is a frumpy loser, so her office scenes aren\u2019t as cringe-inducing as they should be. One of the funniest running jokes in \u201cSend Help\u201d is how, once on the island, Linda inexplicably looks more and more gorgeous, while Bradley starts to resemble Robinson Crusoe. <\/p>\n

\"RachelRachel McAdams as Linda Liddle in 20th Century Studios’ SEND HELP.Brook Rushton\/20th Century Studios<\/p>\n

\u201cSend Help\u201d joins \u201cNo Other Choice\u201d in the latest trend of brutal thrillers based on job-related trauma. Real-world frustrations about unemployment and being forced to stay in a toxic workplace must have something to do with these movies being made. The rage expressed onscreen is understandable, and even cathartic. We can live vicariously through the vengeance of others.<\/p>\n

I mean, it\u2019s one thing to feel a pleasant sense of schadenfreude when one of Linda\u2019s tormentors gets sucked out of that plane. But Raimi knows it\u2019s even more stimulating to our lizard brains to see his tie get stuck on a jagged piece of metal while his body repeatedly slams and splatters against the plane window. After several seconds of this carnage, Linda pulls down the shade, obscuring our view and earning the biggest laugh in this delightfully mean-spirited and satisfying movie. Welcome back, Sam.<\/p>\n

\u2605\u2605\u2605<\/p>\n

SEND HELP<\/p>\n

Directed by Sam Raimi. Written by Damian Shannon, Mark Swift. Starring Rachel McAdams, Dylan O\u2019Brien, Xavier Samuel, Edyll Ismail, Dennis Haysbert. At AMC Boston Common, Alamo Drafthouse Seaport, AMC Causeway, suburbs. 113 min. R (squeamish viewers will need an S.O.S.)<\/p>\n

Odie Henderson is the Boston Globe’s film critic.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The script, by Damian Shannon and Mark Swift, buffers its rage with a very funny streak of pitch…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":431330,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[52],"tags":[88,206],"class_list":["post-431329","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-entertainment","tag-movies"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/431329","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=431329"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/431329\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/431330"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=431329"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=431329"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=431329"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}