Looks That Kill tells tho story of sixteen-year-old Max Richardson, who is forced to live with a lethally attractive face until he meets Alex, a girl with her own bizarre ailment who aids him on his quest of self-discovery, without accidentally killing anyone. Alex suffers from a rare heart disease that causes her heart to grow (cardiomegaly) if she feels any emotion (happiness-anger-sorrow-jealousy), because it can’t process them. If it gets too big, it’ll stop working.
The two meet after he accidentally kills his latest therapist. Max wants to jump off a bridge to kill himself, but Alex talks him out of it by saying “you jump I’ll jump”. He searches for her after that, and a week long search leads him to her bus stop. They have an adventure of young love and Alex even takes him to a place she has never showed anyone else; the retirement home she volunteers at. One friend of hers who resides at the home, Esther is writing a novel of her drop into Alzheimer’s.
Their romance begins to weaken after they accidentally crash a school dance when some bullies tear Max’s mask off and kill his best friend’s latest girlfriend. He gets arrested and is bailed out and spends Alex’s last days with her because her heart starts failing due to her refusal to continue taking her medication.
Film Review for Looks That Kill
Psychiatrist: “Your parents tell me you were born with a condition.”
Max: “I accidentally kill people.”
Sometimes doctors just need to believe you when you tell them something. Every situation is a not a “I’m from Missouri. You’ve got to show me.”
Max’s parents, Paul (Peter Scolari who was in Bosom Buddies TV Show with Tom Hanks in early 1980s) and Jan (Annie Mumolo) move to a small town to shield Max.
Max (Brandon Flynn) is a teenager walking around looking like he is from The Invisible Man. He wears bandages on his face, a hat and sunglasses. He’s thought of as weird, can’t get dates and is bullied. Typical teen stuff.
Max has an Asian best friend Dan (Ki Hong Lee). That trope is as tired as the Black best friend one. Dan tries to get Alex to be a normal teenager by getting him dates. That ends just short of disastrous.
Max meets Alex (Julia Goldani Telles) twice, the second time being on a bridge when Max is contemplating ending it all. They hit it off. Alex has her own issues. This is where Looks That Kill that’s a tone change. It becomes like a YA terminal illness story.
There are a couple of side stories, Max visiting a nursing home and a foreign exchange student coming to stay with Max’s family. Not sure those were necessary.
In the end, Looks That Kill was an interesting premise that didn’t really go anywhere.
Looks That Kill (2020)
Directed by: Kellen Moore
Starring: Brandon Flynn, Julia Goldani Telles, Ki Hong Lee, Annie Mumolo, Peter Scolari, Priscilla Lopez, Monique Kim, Susan Berger, Rhaechyl Walker, Julia Goldani Telles
Screenplay by: Kellen Moore
Production Design by: Jennifer Klide
Cinematography by: Damian Horan
Film Editing by: Spencer Houck
Costume Design by: Melissa Vargas
Set Decoration by: Callen Golden, Jenn McLaren
Art Direction by: Tim Kowalski
Music by: Dean Hurley
MPAA Rating: None.
Distributed by: Gravitas Ventures
Release Date: June 19, 2020
Views: 57
