THE OATH

As October hurtles past the midway point, many folks are experiencing a feeling of dread, one that’s not from worrying over having enough candy for the trick-or-treaters or if your party costume is too scary or sexy (or not enough of either). Nope, it’s because the really frightening events are happening just weeks later. Yes, it’s Thanksgiving, the first of the two big year-end family get-togethers, a day to revel in homecomings and making memories as you pass the stuffing and cranberry sauce (drat, almost left it in the fridge again). But for some of us, it can be an endurance test as old wounds are re-opened (and often liberally salted). One source of heated conversations post meals and pre-football is the political scene. Mom may try and nix that talk, but it settles in like indigestion. With the dining room simmering and smoldering with tension, what would happen if the government, as the old expression goes, decided to toss gasoline on the fire? That’s the premise of a new flick that doesn’t feel that far removed from the current climate. In this story the day after the feast is not focused on shopping, but rather on the final day of THE OATH.

So, what is this source of controversy? The “Patriot’s Oath” is merely a single sentence: “I pledge my loyalty to the president and my country, and vow to defend them from enemies, both foreign and domestic”. You caught the word “loyalty”, right? Just four words in, so it’s definitely a “loyalty oath”. That’s what really disturbs thirty-something middle married middle-class couple (and parents of adorable daughter Hardy) Chris (Ike Barinholtz) and Kai (Tiffany Haddish). Actually, they’re horrified at this event, and despite the press secretary’s assurance of a “tax break” for those who sign, the two believe that all will come to their senses long before the “signing” deadline that’s months away, on “Black Friday”, the day after Thanksgiving. Flash forward to Thanksgiving Eve Eve. The Oath deadline is still happening, and now it has its own squad of “enforcers”, a subset of Homeland Security called the “Citizens Protection Unit”, whose main “goal” is to make sure nobody is prevented from signing up by Friday. But Chris has more immediate concerns as he closes up the office of his “citizens’ action” bureau. His family, parents, and siblings, will be converging on their home for the big feast. Chris’s mom Eleanor (Nora Dunn) and dad Hank (Chris Ellis), are a bit stodgy, but more middle of the road, hoping to keep politics off the Dinner table. Oh oh, there’s brother Pat (Jon Barinholtz), a fervent ultra-right-winger, who sees nothing at all wrong with the Oath. And he brings along his current girlfriend Abbie (Meredith Hagner), who’s even further to the right, boasting of how she likes to “stir up s#*t” on the internet. But luckily there’s the mellow sister Alice (Carrie Brownstein) who shares some “herbal relaxers” with Chris while her hubby (Jay Duplass) rides out a nasty stomach bug in one of the guest bedrooms (and bathrooms). On the street and at a restaurant they witness the rising tensions that lead to altercations, as reports of CPU crackdowns fill the cable news channels. On the big “turkey day” tempers explode when an iconic Civil Rights senator is hauled away in shackles. The big meal is a big bust. But things go from bad to even worse the next day, when Chris returns home from an errand to find two CPU officers, Peter (John Cho) and Mason (Billy Magnussen), waiting for him in his den. Turns out that Pat let them in (“They’re just like cops, right?”). Peter says that they got an anonymous call that Chris was keeping someone from signing the Oath. If Chris will just take a drive with them, Peter’s certain they can “work things out”. Ah, but the spirit of those radical 1960’s is strong in Chris. And thus begins a long and truly bleak, black Friday.

In most films, we could easily point to Ike Barinholtz’s Chris as the “hero” of the story. Protective of his family and his ideals, Chris should be the “voice of reason” for the audience, but Ike makes him complex. Sure, he’s in the “right” most of the time, but he can also be arrogant and self-righteous to the point of aggravation and annoyance. When the “stuff” hits the fan, he’s “flailing about’ mentally and physically, a “smart” guy that’s just as dumb as those he denigrates. Happily, Ike has a great chemistry with Haddish who breaks away from her “party-gal” persona she created with her stand-up comedy and breakout role in GIRLS TRIP. Her Kai is an equal partner to Ike’s Chris, but more, she’s his moral compass and grounding force. Though she may agree with Chris, Kai will not let his stubborn streak endanger the life they have made. The two are a most believable team, particularly in the opening flashback that’s playfully sexy. The other Barinholtz, Jon as brother Pat, matches Chris for pure belligerence, plus an entitled “frat-boy” attitude. And he’s got the perfect mate in Hagner’s Abbie, whose hair-trigger (she goes into a blind rage each time Chris forgets her name) acerbates any minor altercation into a major “throw down”. Abbie is a sneering harpy for the new century. At the other end of the spectrum is Brownstein as the reasoning, calming “Earth mother” whose cool demeanor finally crumbles from dealing with both Pat and Chris. And then there are the two “interlopers” brought into the “safe space” for the suspense-filled second act. Causing more of a conundrum are the two distant personalities of the duo, a riff on the classic “good cop/bad cop”. Cho’s Peter is a new-age “Joe Friday”, there to do his job with the most professionalism. He can assess the “feel” of the room, and will not allow himself to take any of Chris’s insults personally. Cho plays him as the “caring counselor really wanting to help. Then there’s Mason, played with “off-kilter” menace by Magnussen. He’s the “wild card” who seems to be hoping for an altercation in order to finally get his hands “dirty”. As Peter tries to mediate, Mason is seething, his teeth grinding under his perfectly-trimmed ‘stache, ready to abuse and enforce. All the while, the heads of the family, played with numbed bewilderment by Dunn and Ellis, fretfully try to restore the peace. Mom and Pop are pretty powerless in this suburban “powderkeg”.

This is the feature film directing debut for Ike Barinholtz after helming episodes of TV’s “The Mindy Project”, and it’s his second feature script after CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE along with writing for “Mindy” and “MADtv”. That sketch comedy background has served him well, as he’s come up with a bit of satire that pushes reality ever so slightly. In interviews, he’s said that the idea came to him after the last big election, but the film doesn’t come off as a lecturing screed, more as an “off the wall” “what if” combined with “Griswald-like” comedy chaos and conflict. This “else-world” Ike has fashioned feels not far removed, even with its street “flare-ups’ and awkward TV press conferences. The set-up is clever, but the big “pay off” is often too coarse and clumsy. T-day’s feast is quickly mired in a torrent of “f-bombs” (really, two minutes of “F you” “No, f you” and so on) and screaming through clenched teeth over the yams and peas. With the violence and blood, the CPU showdown may be the reason that many (mostly the marketing folks) are comparing this to the politically-inspired horrors of THE PURGE and GET OUT (not in the same cosmos really), but it never maintains any momentum, stopping and starting, till everything is wrapped up far too neatly with a tidy, convenient bow before the end credits. Ike’s idea might have made for an engaging extra-long TV skit or even an hour-long comedy special, but THE OATH turns into an exhausting, irritating 93-minute mess. This I swear (but not as much as the cast).

3 Out of 5