Tags:
Film: Borderline
Year: 2025
Director: Jimmy Warden
Writer: Jimmy Warden
Starring: Samara Weaving, Ray Nicholson and Eric Dane
Review:
This was a film that I felt like I saw the poster and was intrigued to learn that it starred Samara Weaving. I love the fact that she takes roles like this and has continued in the genre. What I didn’t realize until this started that it co-starred Ray Nicholson. I’ve seen him in a few works and it didn’t click until after Smile 2 that he was Jack’s son. I was interested in seeing what he could do in a bigger role. This also is my 2025 horror release for the week.
Synopsis: a bodyguard protects a pop superstar and her athlete boyfriend from a determined stalker in 1990s Los Angeles.
We start this with voice-over narration from Paul Duerson (Nicholson) about how he hates stories starting at the end. It gives us a glimpse of a rough looking Sofia (Weaving) as they’re getting married. This then goes back to the start and we’re in the mid-1990s. Paul shows up to Sofia’s mansion. The bodyguard from the synopsis is Bell (Eric Dane). He tells Paul he can’t be here and this is clearly not the first time. He tries to be nice, warning that he will call the police if he doesn’t go. We get flashes of how deep Paul’s psychosis is as he stabs Bell. He then moves around Sofia’s place, listening to music and getting into different things.
It then shifts 6 months into the future. Paul is in a mental hospital. Sofia is now seeing DeVante Rhodes (Jimmie Fails) who is a basketball player. He just got traded to the Denver Nuggets. Bell survived his attack and is now home. He has a daughter, Abby (Yasmeen Kelders). She is concerned with him going back to work, for good reason. She is left with Eleanor (Catherine Lough Haggquist) for the night.
Things then take a dark turn when Paul escapes from the hospital. He is picked up by J. H. Calhoun (Patrick Cox), who is his childhood friend. They’re joined by Penny (Alba Baptista). The plan here is to get Sofia, make sure she’s ready to marry Paul as she is the love of his life. We learn more about an incident that happened with him at a Sofia concert. Paul has a grand plan for this event which could be murder for those involved.
That is where I’ll leave my recap and introduction to the characters. Where I want to start is by bringing up that I’m not always the biggest fan of horror/comedy films. That’s not to say I hate them all. I just think that you need to balance the comedy and horror where it is as close to 50/50 as possible. I will be honest here, this is more of a comedy. They don’t shy away from horrific things though so I’ll give it credit there. I’m not going to spoil my full thoughts, but I had fun with this one.
Now that I’ve set that up, what is interesting here is that this is grounded in reality. The first thing here would be obsession and celebrity stalking. It is interesting that Sofia isn’t taking it seriously when we finally meet her. In her defense though, Paul is locked away. Bell also survived and is returning to work soon. She still doesn’t do enough to protect herself. I don’t want this to come off as victim blaming though. It is sad that we have individuals who are obsessed with celebrities to the point of stalking them. These individuals need help.
Then to shift, let’s explore this more about Sofia. First, I’ll say that Weaving is excellent here. I’ve already said that she doesn’t take this stalker seriously. We see her then with DeVante. What is interesting here is that he gets mad at her for finding a document on her desk about men she’s dated or been connected with. He’s on that list and there are more that haven’t been crossed off. This does feel like a commentary from the 90s that is still relevant now. Celebrities do tend to date others, as it seems they have more in common and understand the lifestyle. Finding this upsets DeVante and Sofia doesn’t see the issue. This sparks character growth for her that I appreciated. Fails was solid in his role as well.
Another let’s go to a more serious tone here with mental illness. Abby makes a comment about an incident that happened at a Sofia concert that explains why Paul is the way that he is. That was intriguing to me. Nicholson is great here in his portrayal. It is wild to watch as he has his father’s smile and just that crazy look about him that fits so well. His range of emotions in this is absolutely wonderful. His psychosis makes for comedy, but that is due to how his delusions are manifesting. It doesn’t feel exploitative to me. Horror elements are developed from here with things that happen throughout these couple of nights.
I then want to shift gears over to discuss filmmaking aspects. There is also comedy that comes from this. This film is satirizing the 90s. I was reading that there is a joke reference to Madonna, who dealt with a stalker. There is a great scene where Sofia and Penny do a duet of a Celine Dione song. I think in the world of this movie, it is Sofia’s song. This does well in other musical selections. The cinematography captures the era. They also do well there and with the framing to hide the seams of effects. They went mostly practical. I do know there was CGI used, but it didn’t stand out to me as not looking good. This is well made in general so that is a perk here.
Let’s then finish out with the acting performances. I’ve already said that I thought Weaving and Nicholson were great here. Fails works as this basketball player who Sofia assumes things about, but he adds depth to the DeVante character. I think they poke fun at Dennis Rodman with a scene late with him. Dane is great as this bodyguard. What they do there to humanize him as he talks to different characters was good. I like Baptista and Cox to round out Paul’s group. The rest of the cast also rounded this out for what was needed.
In conclusion, this was a film that I was intrigued by due to seeing that it was in horror with Weaving starring. Being that this was part comedy made me leery. I’ll be honest though, I thought that even though this is more of that genre than horror still worked. The comedy comes from multiple characters as well as situations that happen. It does go horrific when it needs to, which I appreciate. This is well made with the effects, cinematography, framing and the musical selections leading the way. It explores heavy subjects with comedic tone without exploiting it. This is one I’ll try to revisit before the end of the year to see where I sit with it.
My Rating: 7.5 out of 10