Kill Your Friends (2015)

"At some point in the coming year, one of us will be fired. 

I have no intention of it being me."

Someone's clearly seen 'American Psycho'...

An A&R man working at the height of the Britpop music craze goes to extreme lengths to find the next hit record.  

I'm all up for a bit of dark humour, bleak philosophy and shocking visuals, all of which 'Kill Your Friends' doesn't really have. 

Imagine a really bad rip off of 'American Psycho' and 'The Wolf of Wall Street' set in London and you'll have 'Kill Your Friends'.

Based on the critically acclaimed novel by Scottish writer John Niven, the film centres around Stelfox, played by Nicholas Hoult (AKA the boy from 'About a boy', which is a role I don't think he'll ever shake), and is set in late 90's London. The Britpop scene is massive and record labels are stumbling over one another to try and secure the next UK, or International, hit record. This alone sounds like an extremely compelling film that could definitely go somewhere. There's an attempt at bleak and satirical humour with a dark outlook on the music industry which, ultimately, should have been more interesting than it was. 

For me, the film's main issue is that it is totally unoriginal. Whiffs of other films are ever-present in this badly executed rip off of 'American Psycho' with Nicholas Hoult giving his best Leonardo Di Caprio impression from 'The Wolf of Wall Street'. Talking to the camera with "shocking" statements and dark humour has been so over done that it really takes a special performance alongside some fantastic writing to pull it off. Unfortunately, Nicholas Hoult doesn't have the acting chops to deliver the lines and the rest falls into the pitfalls of cringe worthy clichés with a director that is trying to shock and be different. 

The film is way too long. The first half is the better half of the film, there's more of the subtle advances and plays that Stelfox makes as he tries to work his way to the top of the label but the second half falls into obscurity and pantomime. It becomes so unbelievable and so ridiculous even for a film that is based so far outside the boundaries of realism. 

It explores the allure of power and the corruption that money can bring but we are battered over the head with the message of the film. Ideas and concepts that have been explored more eloquently in other films are ushered down our throats as if being fed to an infant and we do end up gagging on them.

I thought a lot of what was being said about the music industry was true but it tries to push it to the extremes and then goes too far. It makes some valid points but, in the end, feels a little too much like someone trying to be clever and "against the grain" for the sake of it. It's bleak and depressing outlook on life and art becomes tiresome and the film turns into a rant. Relatively new director Owen Harris goes for it but doesn't pull it off. He clearly has some potential but just not with this film unfortunately.

Films that feature generally despicable characters as their lead walk on a very thin line with the audience. If a lead character isn't relatable or likeable it's hard for the audience to get on board with that lead, so the character must be extremely interesting to make us want to watch on. 'American Psycho' hits the nail on the head with Christian Bale as Patrick Bateman, he's not the type of character that you should like but, somehow, you can't stop watching him. He's fascinating and his philosophies enthral the viewer and we want to see more. Jordan Belford in 'The Wolf of Wall Street' is both fascinating and funny which keeps us on the right side of that line. Unfortunately 'Kill Your Friends' can't keep us on that line and we drift further and further away from Stelfox. He's amoral, violent, cynical and unlikeable so is he interesting? 

No, he's pretty dull to watch.

Is he funny? 

He tries to be... About 90% of his little rants and quips to the camera don't land the way they should.

Towards the end, we're tired of him and the film itself. It becomes more and more excessive but it just feels desperate and immature. It lacks the sophistication of the films that it is ripping off and fails to engage us. It attempts to make us agree with it's bleak outlook but we're long gone by that point. 

Overall, 'Kill Your Friends' is unoriginal, tiresome, terribly executed and, in all honesty, badly acted.

Like an unwanted gift at Christmas, this film is simply a combination of different films that have been repackaged in an attempt to make us forget that we have already seen it. It poorly imitates them and fails to come up with something original.