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Ingrid Goes West portrays Aubrey Plaza in the titular lead, distinctly sick and tired of individuals who live their life through Instragram and other social media playforms, and expressing her displeasure at not being invited to Charlotte’s (Meredith Kathleen Hagner) wedding by gatecrashing it, pepper-spraying her face, and ending up in a mental institution as a result. Charlotte wasn’t a friend of her’s… Ingrid just likes to stalk people.
While Ms Plaza was the best thing about Dirty Grandpa, as the sassy Lenore, and we’ve still to see the UK release of her recent The Little Hours, which looks brilliant, here, she’s a deeply disturbing individual who locks on to new target Taylor Sloane (Elizabeth Olsen) after chancing on a magazine article about her fabulous lifestyle, and then the instant connection Ingrid feels with the socialite when she receives a reply to comment she made on Taylor’s Instagram pictures.
As Ingrid flies out to LA and engineers a way into her life, it only seems a shock to her about what a fake life such people can lead in a film which is part-comedy, part-examination of stalker behaviour, and quite a weird film at times, too, since you can’t look at it as a straight comedy – since that’s not what it is, even if the initial trailer (which is below, and still one of my favourites of the year) made it look like it was.
I also know what it’s like to have a stalker. For some reason, one loon from B3ta has set up several social media accounts in my name (or similar) and has even found my house, come here and interfered with my car! Rest assured, the police were made aware of that!
Back to the film, and there’s good support from O’Shea Jackson Jr as Ingrid’s landlord, Dan, and Billy Magnussen as Taylor’s oddball brother, Nicky, but this is Ms Plaza’s movie and just looking at her eye contact to her new ‘friend’, especially when they’re driving, she steals every scene she’s in. She’s definitely one to watch.
Surely the best thing to do is not to be too reliant on social media? You know when someone gets a zillion likes on Facebook simply for saying “Good morning”, it’s because they only surround themselves with like-minded individuals and not anyone who’ll carry a constructive counter-argument; and if anyone does provide the latter, they’re on a one way trip to Blocksville. #sademoji
Ingrid Goes West is available to pre-order on DVD, ahead of its released on March 26th, 2018, plus the CD soundtrack is already available to buy now. Also, click on the packshot for the full-size image.
Detailed specs:
Cert: 
Running time: 98 minutes
Studio: Columbia Pictures Corporation Ltd.
Year: 2017
Format: 2.35:1 (Alexa Mini with Panavision C Series anamorphics)
Rating: 7.5/10
Directed by Matt Spicer
Producers: Jared Ian Goldman, Robert Mirels, Tim White, Trevor White and Aubrey Plaza
Screenplay: David Branson Smith and Matt Spicer
Music: Jonathan Sadoff and Nick Thorburn
Cast:
Ingrid Thorburn: Aubrey Plaza
Taylor Sloane: Elizabeth Olsen
Dan Pinto: O’Shea Jackson Jr
Ezra O’Keefe: Wyatt Russell
Nicky Sloane: Billy Magnussen
Harley Chung: Pom Klementieff
Nicole: Hannah Utt
Garth Lafayette: Joseph Breen
Cindy: Angelica Amor
Charlotte: Meredith Kathleen Hagner
Chuck: Charlie Wright
Buck: Dennis Atlas
Nurse: Malika Williams
Mechanic: Luis Deveze
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.