Synopsis
Get ready for the night of your life
Recently fired and facing eviction, a new dad has his life turned upside down when he meets a wealthy couple who offer a path to financial security... but at a price.
Cheap Thrills
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Alternative Titles
絕命賭局, Дешевый трепет
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Cheap Thrills is an entertaining watch. The title is perfect. Such a nasty, twisted and fun movie. I loved how it got so dark so fast.
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Desperate for money to support his family, a man calls an old friend to meet him at a bar. Turns out they both need money, though for very different reasons, and when they catch the attention of a rich party-animal waving around wads of cash they become his playthings - he pits them against each other in increasingly demeaning tasks and throws cash at the winner.
The wealthy host's twisted game, created to entertain his girlfriend for her birthday, goes to great lengths to illustrate the ugly side of capitalism; once that’s clear the movie runs wild, a vision of lunacy protruding from the extremes of high class living. Successfully conveying the characters' intentions with shades of ambiguity, the sick ride speeds past, arriving at a gloriously absurd final shot that perfectly encapsulates both the ideas and visceral experience of the movie in their entirety.
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Cheap Thrills, the debut feature film from E.L. Katz, is quite literally an exploitation movie. It’s a morality play wrapped up as a black comedy as a rich and manipulative couple prey on the misfortune of others when they pit an out of work family man against his old friend in a series of twisted dares for cash. What begins as a simple game of drunken bets quickly escalates into violent and morally corrupt entertainment for a couple where money is no object.
Although far from flawless this is an assured and sharply written debut feature. It’s a film that touches upon issues of class and the wealth divide as a pair of working class men debase themselves for cold…
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Two buddies in desperate need of cash end up partying with a rich couple who dare them to do various demeaning things for money. The things they do for the money range from silly to absurd to oh shit, that's fucked up!
Starts out kinda like a dark comedy then just goes full on dark. The shit ppl will do for money when they're back is against the wall. This one is brutal but realistic. Money makes us do wild shit sometimes.
Pat Healy, Ethan Embry, David Koechner, and Sara Paxton are all great in the film. Especially Healy as the new father who is about to be evicted.
Glad I revisited this gem! Recommended viewing.
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I mean it's not exactly a masterpiece but I'd be lying if I said it wasn't a hell of a fun ride.
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If you have seen last years "Would You Rather", and, like me, appreciated the idea of it but felt like it didn't fulfill it's potensial, Cheap Thrills is the film for you.
It starts of bouncing between drama and raunchy comedy, but evolves after a while into something pitch black, yet also packing profundity.
Teaming up The Innkeepers-duo Paxton and Healy and adding a David Koechner on top form and Ethan Embry, an actor I rarely expect anything of, adding his own spices to the mix, Cheap Thrills director E.L Katz whips his ingredients into an entertaining analysis of our inherent weakness for monetary gains. Adding a little critique of how reality shows exploit that flaw for entertainment, as well… -
"Whichever one of you fellas does this shot first gets $50. Boom!" -Colin,
For $50,000 I'll eat whoever you want.
In Cheap Thrills, Craig, representative of the over-educated working poor (Pat Healy) is desperate for money and runs into his friend Vince, representative of the under-educated working poor (Ethan Embry) at a bar. Also at the bar is super rich and weird couple Colin (David Koechner) and Violet (Sara Paxton) who offer Craig and Vince more and more money to do progressively more dangerous, embarrassing or risky tasks. How long will they stay and what will they have to do? Yep, it gets pretty crazy eventually.
I love it. This film is short and effective. The pacing is rapid so you never really feel bored and the escalation of events is fun and suspenseful without getting full blown torture porn-y. The cast is great. Nobody plays a David Koechner role better than David Koechner... that is a scientific fact!
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Money means less the more of it you have, and that is what separates the rich from the poor. $20, $100, $2000, $10000, at some point they all mean the same when what you're worth is so much more.
But to those who don't have that same luxury, they may do anything to earn these amounts. What is the worth of a harmless bet? What if that bet becomes increasingly ugly, increasingly uncouth, increasingly unsafe? What is the worth of your dignity? What is the worth of your sanity? Now what is the worth of your safety?
In Cheap Thrills there's no need for any conflict to happen, but it happens because the wealthy want it to. Instead of offering…
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When you have a morbid sense of humor like I do the premise for Cheap Thrills immediately sparks an interest. Then I read things like,
"Gleefully nasty and darkly hilarious, Cheap Thrills lives down to its title in the best possible way" on rottentomatoes.com and I'm all in. I love dark humor and this film is full of it.After finding an eviction notice and being let go from his job the same day, Craig (Pat Healy) ends up at a bar contemplating how he can keep his wife and child off the street. While he's there he runs into Vince (Ethan Embry), an old friend whom he hasn't seen in five years. The two talk about where they've been…
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“Let’s keep this going. What do you want me to do next?”
As the title suggests, director E.L. Katz delivers some cheap thrills in this extremely dark comedy which begins as a standard down on his luck tale of a family man trying to survive through the recession after losing his job and receiving an eviction notice. The first half of the film (my favorite part) slowly builds up the tension while gradually getting darker as we approach the final act. There is a saying in my country which translated goes something like this: “For money, the monkey dances,” and that is what first time screen writer David Chirchirillo is exploring in this black comedy: to what extremes is someone…
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sometimes this is much better than the movie COMPLIANCE thought it was. other times it's just a long version of the Tarantino segment of FOUR ROOMS. but almost all the time it's mean and nasty for its own sake. like it was made by someone who really loved but somehow entirely missed the point of FUNNY GAMES, so naturally i liked it.
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Cheap Thrills is a great thrill and gives the viewer a run for its money (no pun intended). With $250k up for grab, it's up to Pat Healy and Ethan Embry's characters to battle it out, bet for bet, to see who takes home more cash by the end of a crazy night. Sara Paxton and David Koechner play the convincing eccentric married couple who are literally getting their cheap thrills through the other two. I like the four person cast. It keeps things focused and localized and on point. As each bet gets wilder and more dangerous, more money is on the line. Things start out innocently enough before the tide turns half way through the movie to violence…
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Two buddies in desperate need of cash end up partying with a rich couple who dare them to do various demeaning things for money. The things they do for the money range from silly to absurd to oh shit, that's fucked up!
Starts out kinda like a dark comedy then just goes full on dark. The shit ppl will do for money when they're back is against the wall. This one is brutal but realistic. Money makes us do wild shit sometimes.
Pat Healy, Ethan Embry, David Koechner, and Sara Paxton are all great in the film. Especially Healy as the new father who is about to be evicted.
Glad I revisited this gem! Recommended viewing.
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No sé me ocurre alguien mejor que David Koechner para este papel. Es literalmente Todd Packer en The Office. El resto del elenco también está muy bien elegido.
Buena pelicula, si querés ver algo corto, entretenido (y turbio), es por acá. -
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I saw this on a recommendation to go in blind, and I'm incredibly glad that was the case - I wouldn't think I would be saying it ~20 minutes in, but I'm a sucker for this kind of thing.
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I would have simply just asked for investing advice and then left the bar without tipping.
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Really well cast. Gross and mean without losing its sense of humor. Capitalism at its finest.
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This movie had some pretty intense moments, as the steaks kept getting higher I found myself asking the question what would I do in that situation. Family is a strong motivator in this movie. I thought I had the movie figure it out, but I was not anticipating the way the movie ended.
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Rasante und kurzweilige Thrillerkomödie um das liebe Geld und was wir alles dafür machen, in seiner Glaubwürdigkeit nicht immer eisern.
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ethan embry sure can act coked up, sheesh, he gets scary at points. i think this is the movie with the leas likeable set of protagonists i've seen.
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