I’m Just F*cking With You (Movie Review)

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

PLOT: The night before his cousin’s wedding in Los Angeles, uptight yuppie Larry (Keir O’Donnell) is harassed in a series of practical jokes played by Chester (Hayes MacArthur), the bizarre night manger of the Pink Motel and Lounge.

REVIEW: While lapsing a bit on Blumhouse and Hulu’s original Into the Dark series the past couple of months – missing the duplicitous Valentine’s Day episode DOWN and the lackluster non-holiday-related TREEHOUSE – we’re back in the fold with I’M JUST F*CKING WITH YOU, a droll if obnoxious, at times painfully pranksome April Fool’s Day tragicomedy, one that does less to scare than grate on your nerves, and less to laugh about than it does succeed at taunting and toying with our expectations. There are a few chuckles, to be sure, as there is a genuine shock or two, but where writers Scott Barakan and Gregg Zehentner and director Adam Mason really find their groove is in puppeteering the audience almost all the way through, never quite tipping off if we’re actually in the joke or the mere butt of it. Alas, as has been the loudest common refrain when critiquing these Into the Dark features, is that the germ of a great idea is never fully born out to merit a full feature, even one at 82 minutes as this is. If it weren’t for the sleazy neon-dipped setting and deftly attuned turns from O’Donnell and MacArthur, there’s a good chance the cool conceit of this one might come across too overbearingly shrill to warrant any real fun as a horror-comedy. As it is, I’M JUST F*CKING WITH YOU is a slight step below DOWN, and a climb or two above TREEHOUSE.

Nighttime in L.A. Larry Adams (O’Donnell) is in town to attend his cousin’s wedding the following day, with plans to meet his sister Rachel (Jessica McNamee) at the Pink Motel and Lounge this evening. Thing is, he can’t quite reach Rachel on the phone, and she’s not answering any of his messages. All good. Larry wanders into the Pink, only to find the desk clerk throwing back short-ones in the motel bar with some burly biker. Barkeep introduces himself as Chester (McArthur), and this dude immediately establishes himself as an ultra-annoying cross between T.J. Miller and John Candy in PLANES, TRAINS, AND AUTOMOBILES. Larry is a mirthless tight-wad who can’t seem to crack a smile, in large part due to the fact that his cousin is set to marry his ex-girlfriend, Cindy, whom he himself intended to marry before she dumped him. Larry also harbors a secret online alter-ego as a trolling maniac named Program Flaw (P-Flaw, as old Chet will later call him), allowing him to vent outwardly in the way his meek real life persona just won’t allow. Somewhere in here lies a trenchant statement on such online bullies and how they should or should not be treated, but that’s hardly where the strength of the movie rests. Meanwhile, Larry keeps eating shite from this Chester cat, who keeps pulling lame ass pranks like asking for a credit card after already collecting cash, or locking a door and telling Larry it’s broken, then insufferably barking “I’m Just f*cking with ya!”

Thing is, director Mason pushes the April Fool’s gags just far enough in most accounts to make them work, not only on Larry, but then vicariously through him, us as well. Even when the expectation is set up early on and we come to know deep down Chester is just f*cking around on damn near every action, the two actors still somehow manage push it hard and sell it long enough to keep us off kilter. For most of the time, anyway. Also, I always appreciate movies that credibly take place over the course of night, and here Mason takes that time-crunch and sets his story in the grotty, neon-drenched motel, fully taking advantage of the grungy camera-hidden interiors and flashy exteriors that include an ominous swimming pool (think STRANGERS 2). The time and place alone lends for a quick and entertaining watch, even if the promising premise fizzles and flattens as it sits for too long. The stakes do rise however when Larry comes to think Chester has done something sinister with his unresponsive sister, Rachel, but by the time the actual horror elements of the plot kick into drive, they happen to feel staid, clichéd, and far less exciting than the humorous pratfalls – however nagging and repetitive they do become at times – until the abrupt finale literally comes crashing to a close.

One of the problems with the pranks – whether or not they land – is how fairly unlikable Larry is throughout the film. He starts out as a stuffy whiner who frowns at every little indiscretion, which makes us actually gravitate toward the far more affable and sociable Chester in the beginning. The idea, I assume, is to at some point make the turn and start to side with Larry, but we’ve already established there are only 82 minutes, so it becomes hard for that to happen when Larry doesn’t begin to evolve until the final 10 minutes of the movie or so, when he’s finally dosed with ayahuasca and spills his guts. With sympathize with Larry’s plight, but never wholeheartedly root for him to outwit the funnier, albeit way crazier, Hawaiian-shirted maniac in Chet. Rachel on the other hand, different story! As for Chester, one of the unnecessarily obnoxious addendums to his incorrigible pranks is the loud screech of an eagle cawing (think Farley in ALMOST HEROES), as if it were a victory call. Funny once, eye-rolling thrice. As Chester becomes less likeable throughout, the problem is Larry is never made commensurately likable enough to swap our rooting interests entirely. Still, even amongst the small collection of April Fool’s Day horror joints, I’M JUST F*CKING WITH YOU is a welcome entry.