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Film Review - Heretic (2024)

Writer's picture: Bryan LoomisBryan Loomis

Heretic is more interested in the ways that we exchange ideas with each other than the ideas themselves. Both sides of its equation are pretty easy targets if it wanted to make them targets - you've got naive sheltered Mormons on one hand, and a persnickety argumentative philosophy freshman type on the other. But ultimately the movie is neither as mean as Mr. Reed nor as doe-eyed as Sister Paxton. It’s not trying to present arguments to make its audience think long and hard about them, as the arguments are pretty paper thin. The debate serves as a nontraditional cat and mouse game in a movie that already has a traditional cat and mouse game. The Sisters are trying to escape the house and outsmart their captor, they're also forced to try to best him intellectually and engage with his lines of argument. That gives Heretic multiple avenues to play with its ebb-and-flow dynamic, and it makes full use of that opportunity.


More than anything, this movie is just dumb fun. It isn't particularly scary - it does a trick a couple of times where it seems to be building to a big scare, only to relieve the tension with light humor or relief. It isn't particularly deep either, as all of its arguments are littered with pop culture references and lots of space for Hugh Grant to chew scenery and flex his silly expressions. It's just plain entertaining. That central monologue with the monopoly metaphor is the highlight here, with props galore, a masterful selling of its ideas from Grant, and multiple threads of argument that all converge. The movie doesn't hit those heights again, as the arguments morph more into mind games and sleuthing the ways that Mr. Reed is lying. There's also a brief foray into simulation theory (sorry, hypothesis) that's the same sort of dumb fun but not really fully developed.



Hugh Grant is obviously the standout here and gleefully playing against type, but all three lead performances are solidly above average. Chloe East and Sophie Thatcher aren't working with the best dialogue here, but they make it work and are convincing as sheltered Mormon missionaries. Sister Paxton gets the character arc, going from completely outmatched and leaning on Sister Barnes to handle Mr. Reed, to going toe to toe with Mr. Reed on his bullshit in the end. That end doesn't entirely work as it goes for some late reveals and sincere ideas that don't have the same sense of dumb fun the rest of the movie had. But this type of movie doesn't really need a great end, when you leave the theater it wants you thinking about the middle. And that middle is a fun thriller with a garnish of religious argumentation.

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