The thriller genre always manages to reign us in. We love the dramatic twists and turns of the narrative, the unexpected shocks keeping us hooked until the very end. However, sometimes a thriller misses the mark and becomes overly predictable and inserts things purely for shock value with half-baked plots. Unfortunately, Never Have I Ever is a prime example of a thriller that just doesn't work.
Sam (Andrew Lee Potts) is having a bad day. He is battling an unhealthy relationship with alcohol, is late on a deadline for a writing gig and risks having to pay back an advance he can't afford to. Then a series of strange incidents start happening to him… A chance encounter with Mara (Beatrice Fletcher) whilst drowning his sorrows sends his already bad day spinning in directions he couldn't have seen coming. All roads lead back to an incident from his youth and a butterfly effect, which sees him embroiled in a continually escalating game of deadly cat and mouse.
Never Have I Ever is a film that feels like a good pitch, but is executed in the worst possible way. There's a potentially good concept here, but everything feels extremely off. The camerawork, editing, and sound are all dodgy in places, some of the acting is quite bad, and the script feels as if it is still in the drafting phase.
A lot of this film is predictable; the plot twists can be seen a mile off and are poorly executed with flat dialogue and an overbearing score. The narrative itself fails to engage with a lot of drawn-out, dull conversations between Sam and Mara. On many occasions, it felt like scenes were dragged out for the sole purpose in achieving a designated runtime. Not a lot happens in general, making this a chore to sit through.
The two leads do manage to heighten a lot of the material that they are given. Beatrice Fletcher was a nice surprise and showcased a lot of charisma as Mara. She makes the sheer amount of dialogue she was to give seem interesting and makes a solid impression. Andrew Lee Potts is likewise pretty good here, managing to make the most of what he is given.
Never Have I Ever is a bit of a dud. It's an unengaging and meandering film that never connects in the ways a thriller should. Many elements make it feel like a student film, with choppy cuts and some really bad sound editing.
Never Have I Ever had its world premiere at FrightFest 2024 on Sunday, August 25
