The release of Ti West’s X in 2022 sent welcome shivers down the spines of horror fans hungry for something fresh and surprising. While the film drew heavily upon the gritty nostalgia of TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE and other such exploitative horror films of the mid-to-late 70s, the nostalgia factor felt organic and justified. Add to that MIA GOTH’S remarkable dual performance as budding porn ingenue Maxine Minx and the withered, crazy, sex-crazed Pearl, and the film became an instant classic. Its surprise sequel, PEARL, couldn’t have come from any further left field, hopping back in time 50ish years as GOTH reprised her turn as Pearl, this time young, budding, and full of hope (and rage).
The two films made distinct and poignant statements about fleeting youth, sexual expression, and the disheartening reality that most dreams, in fact, never come true. Unfortunately, MAXXXINE, the final installment of the X trilogy, doesn’t seem to know what it’s saying at all.
Set in the mid-80s, GOTH returns once more to portray Maxine, now hustling on some side street adjacent to Hollywood Boulevard. Her dreams of stardom reach beyond the world of erotic cinema and sex work as she finds herself on the precipice of her big Hollywood break. However, a mysterious assailant from her past threatens to dismantle her potential success to deadly effect.
The film starts strong, allowing GOTH an opportunity to remind us of her radiant talent while simultaneously informing us that Maxine, too, deserves stardom as an actress. However, the introduction of inconsequential side characters who come nowhere close to being fleshed out before their flesh is literally torn out distracts and derails the film from potential horror flick to played-out detective thriller territory to just plain boring.
A terrific performance by KEVIN BACON as Private Dick Labat (whose Louisiana drawl may have been more effective had it not been beaten to the punch by Daniel Craig’s Benoit Blanc in KNIVES OUT) feels unfinished, at no fault of his own. Hooker-With-a-Heart-of-Gold Tabby, portrayed well enough by HALSEY (who undeservedly receives second or third billing in the credits) serves little-to-no purpose and is as forgettable as she is underwritten. Would be Hollywood horror director Elizabeth Bender, played by ELIZABETH DEBICKI, who is the film’s most interesting side character, and, frankly, I’d rather be watching a movie about her, instead. Lastly, the always delightful BOBBY CANNAVALE is saddled with a bland MICHELLE MONAGHAN (as detectives Torres and Williams, respectively). The pair feel forced, shoved clumsily into an already over-crowded plot.
Where X and PEARL succeeded in relishing in their time and space, MAXXXINE seems lost somewhere in 1980-something, drowning in a soundtrack reminiscent of any number of juke boxes or Time Life Music Collections. A potentially iconic glam makeup look is revealed and then underused. Real-life 80’s Hollywood serial killer The Night Strangler serves as a (very) loose narrative thread and red herring throughout the film. Odes to BEHIND THE GREEN DOOR and other obscure exploitation titles’ insight shrugs of “so what?” rather than serve any recognizable purpose. The film is trying to do too much and, in doing so, achieves very little. An alarmingly predictable “twist” and a coo-coo third act (chopped up and speckled with… a time jump? …a fantasy sequence? It’s unclear…) derails the misguided plot past the point of no return.
That’s exactly what MAXXINE is: misguided. It’s a missed opportunity that unfortunately brings audiences to the realization that what made the titular character so appealing upon her first introduction in X was her mystique and the fact that we knew very little about her. Goth’s performance gave all we needed to know. One gets the sense that while she may have had a well-fleshed-out back story, neither WEST nor GOTH (who, as on PEARL, produces the film) knew what to do with Maxine after the events of X.
Fortunately, the first two films, whose themes feel more intentionally connected than the lost and unfocused finale ultimo, work just fine as a duo act.
MAXXINE is available in theatres.
