It's What's Inside Review: High On Style, Low On Substance

"It's What's Inside" premiered at this year's Sundance Film Festival and was acquired by Netflix for a hefty price tag in the $17 million range, according to Deadline. And maybe some people will think it was worth it. After all, writer and director Greg Jardin has style to spare in putting together his first feature film. But from the perspective of substance, he leaves something to be desired. The comedy horror film has a great premise, though.

"It's What's Inside" starts with an argument between Shelby (Brittany O'Grady) and her boyfriend Cyrus (James Morosini) about sex. She wants to do it, and has put on a wig to spice things up, but he's reluctant. The fight escalates to Shelby saying she doesn't want to go to the wedding of their college friend Reuben (Devon Terrell). She goes anyway and her, Cyrus, Reuben, and four other friends from college gather at Reuben's house, a monument to the artwork of his mother, who died eight years earlier. That was their senior year in college and they haven't seen all that much of each other since, but Reuben sees this as the perfect time to reconnect and has sent away his fiancée to make sure it can happen.

Then their friend Forbes (David Thompson), who left college abruptly after being kicked out for letting his little sister Beatrice (Madison Davenport) drink, arrives unexpectedly with a briefcase that has a device in it that lets people swap bodies — and the party really begins to take off. Some people are thrilled by this revelation, some are disturbed by it, and some are freed to follow their pleasures through it. No matter what, though, they all go back for more, until something horrible happens and the group starts to come apart.

The style of this movie can't be denied. Greg Jardin uses split screens, picture in picture, social media, and more to make this movie pop visually. It's like a collage, and it's hard not to fall in love with it. From scenes lit in greens and blues to a room that's entirely lined with mirrors, this movie looks good.

Sometimes it seems that the visuals are in service of the story. There's one shot of all eight of the friends on the couch in which the camera spins faster and faster in a circle until all eight of their faces become a blur. It seems to be saying that any one of them could be someone other than who we might assume (an especially interesting statement because we're watching actors playing other people), and it works beautifully for the movie. However, this is the exception, not the rule.

The soundtrack is also used to drive points home, with variable results. When, for example, Cyrus' voice fades out because Shelby is paying attention to something else, this works well, but more often, as when the soundtrack blips and bloops as the movie goes for its climax, it's not especially successful. In fact, the soundtrack tends to get more annoying as the movie goes on. 

On the other hand, the story is in desperate need of more depth. While the body swap conceit is a great hook to hang a movie on, perhaps Greg Jardin needed someone else to help him write "It's What's Inside" so there's more to the characters and situations than the movie appears to be interested in.

The story is pretty much relegated to a single location, and though that location is weird and different, there isn't much to reveal there. So that leaves it up to the characters to be interesting, and unfortunately, they're not. Though the cast is solid enough at embodying their own characters and those of others, unfortunately, there's not much to them. The most interesting thing about the group is that Reuben is secretly in love with Maya (Nina Bloomgarden) and Shelby and Cyrus need to figure out their tortured relationship or break up. Other than that, we know pretty much nothing about them, except the basics: Dennis (Gavin Leatherwood) is a trust fund baby, Nikki (Alycia Debnam-Carey) is a social media influencer, Brooke (Reina Hardesty) draws pictures, and Maya is into Buddhism. If anything we know slightly more about Forbes because we actually see what he's been working on, but that doesn't amount to much.

As a result, when they start swapping bodies there isn't all that much to reveal. Shelby and Cyrus' relationship is perhaps the most interesting but only because Jardin puts it front and center. The pair continue to bicker throughout the whole party, but after a while, I was wondering why Shelby was still with him, not why Cyrus can't rise to the occasion. After all, she seems as invested in complaining about him as he does in denying her every request. But if that's the centerpiece of this movie, it's a problem. The individuals barely even register when they're in the body of someone of a different race than them, let alone anything deeper. No one even gets upset when they realize that their body has been used for sex with someone that they wouldn't have touched. That just leaves long-festering resentments and relationship issues to rise to the surface.

I can't say much more about the plot because of spoilers, but suffice it to say that there isn't much to this movie besides the thrill of the basic premise. The third act twist coupled with a very detailed coda with a newly introduced character gives "It's What's Inside" a lot of plot to work through but not much to say about the human condition. While Jardin is clearly a clever and creative visual stylist, he's a lot less creative with his story. His story ideas need to catch up with his visuals, then he might really have something.

"It's What's Inside" comes to Netflix on October 4.