All My Friends Hate Me
It’s a skill to make a scene genuinely uncomfortable to watch, but All My Friends Hate Me manages to do it again and again. Perhaps it’s the way that the film plays on the most primal of British social anxieties, or maybe it’s just that it is possible to see oneself in every single one of the characters. Whatever it is, it works.
Directed by Andrew Gaynord, All My Friends Hate Me is about a 30-ish bloke called Pete, played by Pete Stourton, who travels to a reunion of his university friends. Whilst he is initially excited to step back into the friendship group, over the course of a few days his friends’ behaviour becomes unnerving and Pete suspects that surprise addition to the group Harry, played excellently by fellow Stath Lets Flats alumnus Dustin Demri-Burns, is out to replace him. It’s a common formula for psychological thriller-comedies to follow nowadays, but it manages it quite well, with genuinely interesting characters and some great dialogue.
This is where All My Friends Hate Me succeeds the most – in its moments of interaction. With witty, snappy dialogue and delightful chemistry between the main cast, there’s a whole bunch of deliciously funny, tense and awkward moments. The cringe factor is turned up almost to 11 and many scenes have members of the audience squirming in their seats, which is excellent, as many of the film’s standout moments are based entirely around social interaction as it ruthlessly exposes the nitty-gritty of the group dynamic.
Though it’s not a wholly original premise and includes many staples of the genre, including the now-irritating habit of horror films with jump-scare titles. It does, however, manage to differentiate itself from other productions of its type in how it maintains its low-key approach. Very rarely does it veer into the ridiculous, and the climactic sequences are suitably uncomfortable.
Overall, All My Friends Hate Me is an entertaining and interesting feature that does more with its premise than its peers, which is a breath of fresh air in a genre laden with copycats.
Joe Milo
All My Friends Hate Me is released nationwide on 10th June 2022.
Watch the trailer for All My Friends Hate Me here:
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