The Favorite: A dusty, messy, and surprisingly mean little flick

Is it worth your time?

If you like movies that feel like they were shot on a Tuesday afternoon with no budget to spare, yeah, give it a go. People who need tight scripts and logical character arcs will probably be clawing at the walls within twenty minutes. It’s definitely not for the 'prestige cinema' crowd. But if you dig that specific, gritty energy of old studio-era mischief, you’ll find some charm here. 🐎

The whole thing kicks off with a criminal—the kind who thinks he’s much smarter than he actually is—deciding to ruin a stable owner’s life. Why? Mostly just because he can, I guess. The movie doesn't really care about the 'why.' It just wants to get to the part where everyone is yelling at each other in a stable.

Oddly specific observations

• The lighting in the stable scenes is... well, it’s definitely there. Sometimes it’s so bright it looks like they’re standing on the surface of the sun.
• There’s a moment where a character tries to look intimidating while leaning against a fence, but the fence wobbles. Nobody cuts the shot. It stays in. I loved it.
• The hats. Everyone is wearing hats that feel three sizes too big for the era, or maybe it's just me.

I couldn't help but think about The Midnight Patrol while watching this. There’s that same feeling of people rushing through lines like they’re late for a bus. It’s not polished. It’s frantic. It’s got a pulse, even if it’s a weird, erratic one.

The acting is a total mixed bag. Some of these folks look like they're having the time of their lives, and others look like they’re trying to remember where they parked their car. One of the leads keeps doing this nervous twitch with his left eye that I couldn't stop staring at. Is it a character choice? Or did he just have an itch? We’ll never know.

It gets better once the criminal stops trying to be a mastermind and just starts panicking. There’s a scene near the end—no spoilers—where the dialogue just completely falls apart. It’s like the writers realized they had five minutes left of film stock and just started shouting plot points at the screen. It’s not 'good' in the traditional sense. It’s just... fun to watch it struggle.

I think I prefer this over stuff like Should Brides Marry? because it doesn't try to be sweet. It’s mean, it’s dusty, and it’s deeply confused about its own morality. Sometimes that's all you need on a rainy afternoon.

Don't overthink it. Just watch the hats wobble. 🤠