Netflix’s newest original film is a derivative and silly “Fatal Attraction” wannabe that wouldn’t even pass muster in a discount movie theater. “You Get Me” feels shockingly dated, almost like something released in 2001, and barely skids by as background noise. Its narrative is achingly paper thin to the point where the movie submits itself to endless montages filled with silly club and dance music. Even the finale is botched with a ridiculous ode to “Sunset Boulevard.” Director Brent Bonacorso struggles very hard to deliver a modern day digital version of “Fatal Attraction” when it barely registers as a “Swimfan” clone.
Dialogue is goofy, conflicts are forced, characters are stale, and with a firm PG-13 rating, it misses every opportunity to take the exploitation route. “You Get Me” almost seems to want to pander to teens while delving in to the typical plot points of “Fatal Attraction” including a lurid affair and sexual obsession. Co-star Bella Thorne is mind blowingly sexy, and the movie shows that with a very teen friendly rating that pictures her in scantily clad clothing, and nothing else. I’m not even sure how one creates an erotic thriller without the “erotic.” Director Brent Bonacorso skims over much of the lurid violence and sex, even featuring a moment when villain Holly sexts with main character Tyler without removing a single article of clothing (?).
Thorne is a charismatic actress but tries too hard to present a snake like villain in the vein of Glenn Close, offering selfie style duck lips that are supposed to count as brooding and menacing. Like “Fatal Attraction,” this teen soap opera iteration is about a guy named Tyler who has it all, falls the for allure of a very sexy woman, and finds out that she is a murderous psychopath. Even when Tyler has a one night stand with femme fatale Holly, and wakes up in her mansion she reveals she broke in to, he still playfully frolics around the house with her, indulging in her sexiness, rather than turning around and running for the hills. Shockingly despite indicating every desire to be in a relationship, Tyler is stunned when Holly appears at his school for the new semester.
Anxious to distance himself for the sake of his steady girlfriend, Holly takes pleasure in teasing Tyler, and almost immediately it escalates in to everything you’ve seen in films of this ilk. “You Get Me” is an abysmal entry in to this ridiculous sub-genre; you could literally throw a rock and come up with a better thriller, especially one that doesn’t treat deception as a path to enlightenment and self realization.