THE END OF OAK STREET is a solid B movie. Not a letter grade, but the genre. One day it could be a cult classic, but the film doesn’t seem to know how silly it is, so it never fully leans into its own campiness. The two major stars, Oscar winner Anne Hathaway as Denise and Emmy winner Ewan McGregor as her husband Greg, don’t fit into this type of genre movie and are distracting. Lesser-known actors in the lead roles might have suited the material better. I went in knowing almost nothing, per a friend’s advice (“go in knowing as little as possible”), which worked well. If you haven’t seen THE END OF OAK STREET yet and this review convinces you, just go. No trailers, no commercials.
The plot of THE END OF OAK STREET isn’t entirely original, but it does feel nice to go to a summer movie that isn’t a sequel or reboot. The story is inspired by Jules Verne’s and H.G. Wells’s types of adventures. David Robert Mitchell (IT FOLLOWS) wrote and directed it, and its 1982 Michigan suburban setting was my favorite thing about it. No other film or TV show in recent memory has shown 1982 homes as perfectly as THE END OF OAK STREET. When storytellers try to recreate this era, it’s always too colorful; think WONDER WOMAN 1984, or even going as far back as THE WEDDING SINGER. The early 80s was all about wood-paneled living rooms, and lots of brown and gray, not only in homes but in everyday fashion, with maybe an occasional pop of pink, yellow, or red thrown in for good measure. This film nails it. Every home interior shown in the film felt like it came out of my childhood. I grew up in Central New York, and my neighborhood wasn’t as nice or as densely populated as the fictional Flowervale, Michigan, but that is secondary. IMDb lists Maya Shimoguchi as the Production Designer, and she has an impressive resume, acting as PD or Art Director on projects such as THE BATMAN and TRUE DETECTIVE. I’m surprised she doesn’t have any big awards yet (at least that I can see here) because I’m ready to give her all the flowers!
Even with its 2 huge stars, THE END OF OAK STREET could have leaned into its hokeyness just a little bit more. Every time it feels like the movie knows it’s a bit silly, it pulls back and takes itself too seriously. There’s just too much that lands as funny, but I was unclear if it was intentional or not. For many moviegoers, it will be a standard summer popcorn flick, and that’s fine.
If you, like me, use the Letterboxd app to keep track of the films you see, it’s possible you’ve gone down the following rabbit hole, also just like I have: VERY specific movie lists. The app lets users create lists of movies, grouped together by anything. A lot of users have fun by making overly specific lists such as “Movies Where Jessica Chastain Gets Fed Up with the Useless Men Around Her and Decides to Save the World Herself” or “Films Where Jeremy Irons Says Long Live the King but Doesn’t Mean It.” These actually exist, or they did exist at publication time. My list that includes THE END OF OAK STREET, along with horror classic POLTERGEIST, JURASSIC WORLD, and the first A QUIET PLACE would be called “Movies Where Kids Don’t Listen to Their Parents or Guardians and Put Everyone in Danger.” I’m sure there are at least 10 more movies for this list, but I think you get the idea. The child actors, depicting Denise and Greg’s kids, are very talented. Maisy Stella as daughter Audrey, and Christian Convery as son Brian. Yet they’re completely overshadowed by McGregor and Hathaway, again, who are just not needed here. And they make stupid choices that serve to move the plot forward, not because those choices make sense in the situation. This is an issue with A LOT of horror movies, but I guess if characters did as they were instructed, the film would be over in 10 minutes.
Finally, there are some plot holes regarding the family’s neighbors and where exactly everyone is throughout the story. Even in a film that a viewer has to really suspend their disbelief for, the story raises questions it doesn’t need to. These plot holes lead to an ending that doesn’t quite land. On a positive note, some of the film’s final scenes give us a bit of the cheesiness that’s missing from the rest of it, and again, I have no idea if it’s intentional or not.
I recommend THE END OF OAK STREET for fans of Hathaway or McGregor, with the caveat that it’s more horror than I expected. And I recommend it for fans of campy B movies generally, even though it never quite lives up to that potential. Maybe in 20 years this plays a cult film festival, but probably not, given how enduring Hathaway and McGregor’s careers already are.
THE END OF OAK STREET is now playing exclusively in theaters.
