Clickbait (2021) Review

 

Clickbait (2021)

Clickbait follows the Brewer family, who after their father and husband Nick is killed following a viral video, are left with a mystery to uncover the truth that is buried in a web of lies, secrets, and revenge. 

Clickbait falls into a genre of movies that are inevitable in this day and age (that Netflix is particularly drawn to) but that I can’t stand and that’s the social media mystery genre. And I must say, had it not been recommended, I likely never would have watched it (or heard of it for that matter).  i can’t deny however that this never fails to keep you on your toes and really captures that whodunnit quality you really want out of your property, even if the end result is a bit wishy-washy. 

Every time you think you’ve got it figured out, the show finds a way to divert or shift your attention to another suspect, while leaving others still as very much viable options. This is in big thanks to it’s format, which shifts perspective to a new character each episode, always providing new information, while also allowing you to understand each character fully. Where that can go awry however is, especially in this case, if there isn’t a single characters that isn’t detestable. Literally all of them are shit human beings (except for the accused & murdered, go figure) so it leaves us with a bad taste in our mouth on who to root for for the entire series. 

We get a pretty dreadful cast, starring Becca Lish, Jessica Collins, Abraham Lin, Ian Meadows, Jaylin Fletcher, Camaron Engels, Adrian Grenier, Phoenix Raei, Betty Gabriel, and Zoe Kazan. Fletcher, Grenier, and Raei all stood out as half decent performances, but when lumped in with the likes of Lin and Kazan, make it impossible to genuinely like any of the people in screen, even if their intentions are good. 

Clickbait, directed by Tony Ayres and Christian White, is actually quite intelligent with its premise and story, always leaving you guessing and yearning for more answers (very binge-able), resulting in plot twists galore that just don’t quite land for me due to a mix of rough performances and characters you can’t help but despise. 

7.2/10