Who among us hasn’t secretly yearned for someone else’s life? Whether it’s a famous celebrity or just a well-to-do friend, coveting someone else’s seemingly perfect life is commonplace.
The concept takes a dark twist in writer/director Nicholas Tomnay’s feature, What You Wish For. And while the title may eschew the first few words of the well-known saying, the missing words from the warning loom large over the film.
The film begins as protagonist Ryan (Nick Stahl) steps out of the airport in an unnamed South American location (the film was shot in Colombia, but the location is deliberately unnamed). He’s greeted by a professional driver who promptly delivers him to an empty, isolated villa.
It’s luxurious, opulent, and very, very rich feeling. These are all things that are completely unfamiliar to Ryan.
He is a talented, down on his luck chef who is stuck working in an airport hotel kitchen. As several threatening texts confirm, Ryan also owes a substantial gambling debt to some very bad people. It’s unclear if the trip is an attempt to escape or a last-ditch Hail Mary to secure funds from a well-to-do College friend, but What You Wish For opens on a desperate note.
Ryan’s friend, Jack (Brian Groh) is also a chef, though the pair haven’t seen each other in years. Clearly Jack has done well for himself, but when Ryan presses him for details or asks for an “in” with The Company, Jack either deflects or acts dejected.
The details about their history, as well several other character backstories and plot points, are never fully clarified. Technically Tomnay’s screenplay provides everything that’s required to follow the story, but there are lingering questions deliberately left unanswered.
Following a night of eating and drinking with single tourist Alice (Penelope Mitchell), Ryan wakes up to discover that things taken a turn for the worse. In a moment of panic, Ryan makes an impulsive decision: he assumes Jack’s identity and attempts to gain access to his friend’s bank account. But before he can plot his next move, two representatives from The Company, Imogene (Tamsin Topolski) and Maurice (Juan Carlos Messier), arrive and mistake Ryan for Jack.
With dollar signs in his eyes, Ryan seizes the opportunity to cook dinner for a small group of high-end clients, but very quickly realizes the stakes are much higher, and more dangerous, than he ever anticipated.
At its core, What You Wish is a tense thriller that has a twist I won’t reveal. Thankfully that revelation doesn’t bog the film down (it comes out approximately halfway in). As a result, the film’s pleasure derives from watching Ryan dig himself deeper and deeper into trouble, as well as Tomnay’s ability to ratchet up the tension as things snowball out of control.
Many of these developments require the suspicion of disbelief, not the least of which is that Imogene and Maurice have never worked with ‘Jack’ before, nor have they seen a picture of him. Over time this becomes easier to forgive, especially since both Topolski and Messier offer hints in their respective performances that they’re not entirely fooled by ‘Jack’s obliviousness about the job and its various protocols.
The other reason it’s easy to forgive the plot shenanigans is because once What You Wish For gets going, it’s a non-stop thrill ride to the finish. Each time it seems as though things can’t get worse for Ryan, a new wrinkle is introduced that makes things even more dire. This ranges from the lack of produce for the meal, the unexpected reappearance of Alice, or the arrival of Detective Ruiz (Randy Vasquez) and Officer Gallo (Ariel Sierra) in the middle of dinner.
As the film’s anchor, Stahl is perfectly cast. His performance ensures the audience empathizes with Ryan even when he’s making terrible, impulsive decisions and the genre vet has the uncanny ability to register barely contained panic on Ryan’s face at all times. His only saving grace is that Ryan can actually cook; it’s his inability to lie convincingly or to roll with the punches that threatens to spoil the ruse and get him killed.
The break-out star of the film, however, is Topolski. If Maurice is the intimidating French muscle, Imogene is the business manager who keeps the train on the track at all costs. Topolski works wonders with the character’s clipped dialogue delivery (think Alison Brie) and simmering frustration, and the fact that neither Imogene or Maurice ever raise their voice only makes them more threatening.
Framed against a beautiful exotic background, What You Wish For begins as an idyllic rich escape, quickly spirals into a nightmare, and ends on a darkly comedic ironic note. The film’s dubious morals offer plenty of food for thought, including a capitalist critique that would play well alongside other thrillers like The Menu.
What You Wish For is hugely entertaining, tense, and (often surprisingly) funny film that risks getting lost in the glut of horror and thriller releases. Don’t miss this culinary delight; it’s one of the best of the year.
What You Wish For is now available on VOD outlets.
