Trust Me, I’m a Nice Guy!
By far and away the best title at TIFF, Everybody Wants to F*ck Me ranked as one of my most anticipated films on the lineup. And I’m happy to report that it delivered. What’s more, it lived up to its title in every way, delivering a dark, twisted, thriller that packs as many satirical laughs into its devilish deconstruction of performative men. It’s my favorite kind of thriller. The kind that never reveals more than it needs to you and keeps you on edge until the final moments when all is revealed. These work best because even if the reveal of its premise is disappointing, the journey remains so exciting, so delightfully unhinged that it still makes it all worth it.
Everybody Wants to F*ck Me is a sort of inverse of typical psychological mind fucks. It uses all of the thriller tropes at its disposal, but turns it all on its head by the end, drawing from a plethora of inspirations but builds its own castles in the proverbial sandbox. What’s more is it holds nothing back, hurdling towards its wilder and wilder answers with one shock after another. Once Everybody Wants to F*ck Me (I legitimately love typing this title and it’s a shame it will most certainly be changed before its wide release, whenever that may be) kicks into high gear, it is unrelenting, pushing the boundaries of how dark and twisted it can do. It obliterates the ‘trust me, I’m a nice guy’ persona with sharp wit and even sharper knives, removing the masks of manipulative men and forcing some much need conversations about modern relationships.
The Man in The Nice Guy Mask
Taron Egerton plays Adam, a ‘nice guy’ in every single sense of the word. He’s the only male at a feminist art gallery, constantly reads female literature, saves women at clubs from over-aggressive men, gets hearts on his lattes and even walks around with a Mubi tote bag. He’s everything he thinks women want; sensitive, kind, smart, fit – but is also a serial womanizer. After a chance encounter with a sultry, mysterious woman (Jessica Henwick) he awakens with little memory of the night before but every single women he meets now wants to f*ck him. Women seem incapable of controlling themselves around him, a dream for any dude who only wants to rack up one night stands.
Of course, the dream quickly turns into a nightmare for Adam. What was once a fantasy of lustful nights starts to turn into something more carnal, less human and far more dangerous. To say any more would reveal far too much, but let’s just say Adam’s monkey paw goes to place no one – not Adam or the audience – could ever imagine. Everybody Wants to F*ck Me also stars Mia Mckenna Bruce, Charley Clive, and Herbert Nordum.
Everyone Wants to F*ck Taron Egerton
Egerton gets to stretch his comedic chops as he slowly spirals out of control. Everybody Wants to F*ck Me knows exactly what it’s doing with its star. It understands his charm and timing but also his propensity for a sinister deviant beneath the welcoming facade. The film itself is predicated on this read of our protagonist, and using Egerton to execute these ideas is a smart choice. Even when you shouldn’t, you believe Adam. Even when he’s epically crashing out – there’s a hilarious scene involving a giant phallic balloon that he wields around like a sword in an attempt to keep women off of him – you do find yourself feeling bad for him and hope he makes it out of whatever is happening to him.
The film knows this. It is acutely aware of how likeable Adam is. That’s by design, and makes the mask removal as things get revealed all the more shocking and imbued with a wonderfully meanspirited ‘gotcha’ conclusion. Everybody Wants to F*ck Me invites you to relish in its nastiness and have a fun time watching some pretty twisted happenings. It’s an assured debut from Jonathan Schey, who demonstrates an ability to manage his high minded ideas and execute them quite well. With such bold concepts and ambitious material, it’s a miracle Schey gets so much right and delivers so much effectiveness. There’s some clunky handling of its more mysognistic overtones and gender roles, both of which only interogated on the surface and used more for twisted thriller moments than any meaningful commentary about them.
Dudes Be Like Is This Play About Us?
But that’s more than forgivable because the film overall is so damn fun to watch. As it starts to shed its layers and turn from comedy to stalker thriller, you can hear the audible jaw drops and “what the fuck?” whispers with each reveal. The nice guy persona needs to be taken down a peg, and Everybody Wants to F*ck Me takes a much needed sledgehammer to performative men. Will it change things? Eh, probably not. The men who need to see this probably won’t. And if they do, they’re sure to posture up and try to defend some of Adam’s actions. But that just may be another reveal that a well crafted thriller like this brings out. The nice guy is just an alpha incel in disguise, something Everybody Wants to F*ck Me continually hints at and ultimately reveals to be about.
Final Thoughts
Everybody Wants to F*ck Me is a taut, effective thriller whose genre hybrid ideas deliver a consistently entertaining and shocking ride. It’s devilishly satirical, sharp in its commentary and relishes in its nastier elements. It’s downright bonkers in the best of ways, and has no problem pushing boundaries. Whatever you expect, Everybody Wants to F*ck Me constantly finds new ways to surprise you, keep you leaned forward and hit you with clever twists and turns. Perhaps most importantly, it’s just a damn good time at the movies and dark, horny, wild ride worth taking.
Not the point but I’m confident everybody wants to f*ck everyone in this movie.
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