Greta

Directed by Neil Jordan, Greta follows Chloë Grace Moretz’s Frances as she meets and befriends a seemingly harmless older woman (Isabelle Huppert’s title character) – with the narrative detailing the decidedly sinister path their relationship slowly-but-surely begins to take. There’s ultimately little doubt that Greta is at its best in its sedate yet thoroughly watchable opening stretch, as Jordan, working from a script written with Ray Wright, delivers an appealing drama focused entirely on an exceedingly unlikely friendship – with the first act’s effectiveness heightened by solid work from both Moretz and Huppert. It’s only as the picture segues into its increasingly thriller-like midsection that one’s interest begins to wane, with the biggest and most obvious problem here Huppert’s progressively grating interpretation of her character’s unhinged mental state – as the actress goes larger-than-life and over-the-top with a growing frequency that becomes more and more disastrous as time progresses (ie there reaches a point wherein her performance becomes the cinematic equivalent of nails on a chalkboard). And although Jordan has peppered the proceedings with a few decent interludes (eg Greta sends Frances a series of threatening texts as she stalks a close friend), Greta ultimately marches into an underwhelming third act that’s rife with illogical and flat-out ludicrous elements – which does, in the end, confirm the movie’s place as an initially-promising endeavor that squanders a relatively successful first act.

** out of ****