The Weekend Away is Netflix’s recent movie based on the mystery novel of the same name. It tells us the story of two friends, Beth (Leighton Meester) and Kate (Christina Wolfe) who travelled to Croatia for a getaway, but Kate ended up dead in the first night of their holiday.
Spoiler Review
The Weekend Away is a thriller that follows an innocent woman who tries to solve her best friend’s murder while being suspected as a culprit. This premise is not new. In fact, plenty of thrillers such as Gone Girl and The Flight Attendant have followed the same storyline, but they are usually packaged with different circumstances, different breadcrumbs and different plot twists. The Weekend Away also took a stab at it, feeding the audience with potential culprits like the taxi driver and the landlord, and also giving us a few twists and turns. However, they were all very arranged in a very predictable manner with a very predictable killer. Despite the script’s efforts to conceal the identity of the murderer, it still failed to hide the hints it was giving on the culprit as they want the reveal to make sense.
The movie is relatively short, spanning only 1 and a half hours. That makes it easy for a quick watch, but in doing so, the movie misses its chance to develop the characters and the plot further. Motivations for several characters like Zain were unclear, considering the length he had to go to to help Beth. The friendship between Beth and Kate, who seem to be polar opposites was not properly fleshed out and left us wondering how what led to the friendship and the affair that supposedly meant nothing.
Leighton Meester is the main selling point of the show. Having done several small projects in movies and music after her big role as Blair Waldorf in Gossip Girl, her role as the main lead in The Weekend Away feels like a long awaited comeback. Leighton Meester played the character of an exhausted new mother really well, sporting a natural looking bare face for most of the movie. Even in more gripping scenes, she’s good at displaying her disbelief, worry and anguish through her eyes. The only problem is her character feels somewhat limited with Meester having to resort to the same few facial expressions. However, this is probably due to the nature of the script, where her character only goes through very small developments.
One of the areas where the movie excels in is in depicting the location. The movie was shot in Split, Croatia and the audience were fed with stunning views from the Dalmatian coast city from time to time. Chases in alleys and conversations in cafes were also chosen to give the audience the overall feel of the setting. The beautiful views were definitely a treat, but that alone, was not enough to make this movie an excellent one.
Verdict
4 / 10
Due to its predictive nature and plot that could have been polished, it should be a one-time watch.
Other Mystery Movies and TV Shows
Read other movie summary and reviews here:
Kho Gaye Hum Kahan (2023) – Movie Summary & Review
Kho Gaye Hum Kahan is a Hindi film about the lives of three close friends and the impact of social media on their lives. The film is directed by Arjun
God’s Crooked Lines – Movie Review
God's Crooked Lines or Los renglones torcidos de Dios is a Spanish psychological thriller directed by Oriol Paulo. The film is adapted from the 1979 novel of the same name
The Menu (2022) – Movie Summary & Review
The Menu (2022) is a dark comedy thriller film about a group of wealthy people who paid for an experience to taste celebrity chef Julian Slowik's menu. The film is
Freddy (2022) – Movie Summary & Review
Freddy (2022) is a Hindi psychological thriller about a shy and introverted dentist named Dr Freddy Ginwala whose life changed after he fell in love with one of his patients.
The Wonder (2022) – Movie Summary & Review
The Wonder (2022) is a period drama based on the novel of the same name by Emma Donoghue. It was directed by Sebastián Lelio who also wrote the screenplay alongside
Luckiest Girl Alive (2022) – Movie Review
Luckiest Girl Alive is a 2022 mystery thriller adapted from the novel of the same name by Jessica Knoll. It follows the life of TifAni "Ani" FaNelli, a girl who