‘Welcome to the world…’
It’s rare for a film to feel totally unique. While I Don’t Feel at Home in This World Anymore has shades of both Falling Down and God Bless America in as much as it involves a normal citizen going rogue and taking the law into their own hands, it doesn’t really share anything other than a central premise with those movies. And in Melanie Lynskey, low key one of America’s greatest actresses, Macon Blair’s film boasts a leading lady that everyone can get behind. Lynskey channels all of her girl next door likeability here to ensure that her sparkling performance doesn’t go unrewarded…
Ruth (Lynskey) has had enough of your shit. She’s had enough of people cutting in line at the grocery store, she’s had enough of bad drivers, and she’s sure as shit had enough of whichever dickhole stole her laptop. After enlisting the help of Tony (Elijah Wood), her eccentric but oddly effective neighbour, Ruth sets out to get back what is rightfully hers.
Firstly, I Don’t Feel at Home… works as an escapist fantasy. As someone who tries to be kind and polite wherever possible, I get mad real quick at people who are perhaps a little more selfish. Trips to the supermarket can be an incredibly stressful experience for me. So to see Lynskey go full Network and decide that she won’t take it anymore is gleefully empowering. It’s also nice to Wood back in a starring role, it’s easy forget how interesting he can be when given the right role and he has a blast here as a ninja star lobbing vigilante.
The film perhaps drowns under the weight of its ambition in the final act, but the violence remains neither gratuitous or cartoony right until the end, and there was never a single moment that I wasn’t entertained. It also suffers from falling between the two stools of mumblecore comedy and all out crime caper but I Don’t Feel at Home in This World Anymore is definitely worth seeking out.