PREMISE
A woman, travelling alone through snowbound northern Minnesota, interrupts the kidnapping of a teenage girl. Hours from the nearest town and with no phone service, she realizes that she is the young girl’s only hope.
THE GOOD STUFF
EMMA THOMPSON- It would feel quite silly to deduce the character that Emma Thompson plays in this film to an action character. That’s definitely not the case. However, this character embodies many of the ingenuity and deductive skills that many action heroes possess. She’s a character who’s able to survive very dangerous situations by assessing the environment she’s in and resourcefully using what’s around her to overcome obstacles. Characters like that are always fun to watch. But it’s especially fun to watch this actress play a role like this at 66 years of age.
Throughout her career, Thompson has proven to have two gears when it comes to her characters: snide and affable. Both of those attitudes are typically played to absolute extremes. The snide works very well when she’s playing a character like in cruella, and I think that would work here too. But here she’s playing affable to the maximum extreme…and she is absolutely fantastic.
JUDY GREER- Mind you, I’m not too familiar with the career of Judy Greer. She’s been around for a long time, and many of her most notable movies feature her as a supporting character, often ranking sixth or lower in the film’s cast. I have a hard time thinking of leading roles that she’s had or movies that she’s had to carry. That being said, I don’t think there is a single performance in 2025 from an actor playing so wildly against type.
It’s actually quite impressive how the energy of the entire film changes once her character comes on screen and takes control. We are introduced to her husband’s character first. A bearded, burly man who we feel is the main antagonist of this story. But then her character appears and instantly takes charge, and is significantly more intimidating than her partner. As impressive as it is to see Emma Thompson go to the physical places she does in this film, it is equally remarkable to see Judy Greer navigate the emotional terrain she explores. This is the best thing I’ve seen her in, and the perfect kind of villain for a film like this.
THE BAD STUFF
FLASHBACKS – There are some really nice flashbacks that involve the backstory of Emma Thompson’s character. Really well-acted and aesthetically pleasing dramatic sequences that span over 30 years or so. These flashbacks come in as almost checkpoints to the next chapter of the main story. And if this were a two-and-a-half-hour sprawling epic, these scenes would make sense without them killing the pace of the main story, but that’s precisely what it does. These flashbacks are totally different from the main story, and it’s almost jarring, but not quite. On top of that, the flashbacks themselves are so compelling that when we return to the main story, we nearly want to see what happens next with the flashbacks. I think this was done by design, but it’s a horrible design to follow.
THE UGLY STUFF
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I know it’s hard to request that somebody do what I’m about to suggest, given how expensive movies are these days, but I think everybody should do what I like to call a “blind screening”.
Check the showtimes for a movie you’ve never heard of, and if the premise is interesting enough, go into it without watching the trailer or reading any reviews, to experience it fresh. It’s a risky move. Sometimes, you’ll get a complete dud, but I would say it’s a 50/50 chance that you’ll find a little movie that will absolutely surprise you. And it’s a really good feeling when that happens. This is one of those movies.
DEAD OF WINTER is in theaters now