Review: No Good Deed
As tempting as it may be, one should never let a stranger into your home, even if that stranger looks like Idris Elba and you are an unhappy housewife. Then again, there would be no reason for No Good Deed to exist.
Elba plays Colin, a convict jailed for manslaughter for killing a man in a barroom fight who's also suspected of killing five women, though there was scant evidence for a conviction. Denied parole for his history of violence and his malignant narcissism, he escapes from the transit van and heads for the home of his ex-girlfriend (Kate Del Castillo). Their reunion does not end very well for her.
A heavy downpour causes our escapee to run his car off the road and stumble onto the doorstep of Taraji P. Henson's Terry. A former prosecuting attorney turned suburban mom, she misses the days when she was a strong, independent and desirable woman. Her husband (Henry Simmons) was all too happy to leave her home alone with the kids to go on a golfing weekend with his dad. Understandably, she takes pity on the wet and wounded Colin and stupidly agrees to let him wait inside for the tow truck that will never arrive.
The underlying sexual tension between our fugitive and homemaker goes up several notches at the arrival of Terry's best friend Meg (Leslie Bibb), who all but pimps out Terry to Colin when she isn't putting the moves on him herself. Her curiosity seals her fate and Terry at last starts to realise that she's dealing with a sociopathic killer.
Contrived and mediocre, No Good Deed is so formulaic that the goings-on lack any sort of suspense. There's no reason to fear for Terry or the safety of her two children since the diminutive lawyer proves herself improbably capable of taking down men twice her size (did she get a degree in ass-kicking at some point in her life?). There's very little for the actors to work with though Elba remains a magnetic presence even in the midst of this dreck.
The movie was directed by Sam Miller, who's done better by Elba in their work together on the excellent procedural series Luther. In many respects, the dynamic between Colin and Terry is a variation on the one shared by Elba's titular detective and Ruth Wilson's murderess Alice, who both attracts and terrifies Luther. There's a hint of that in No Good Deed's wine-fuelled scene: Meg shamelessly promoting Terry's allure, Colin vocal in his appreciation of Terry, and Terry laughing it off but obviously enjoying the attention. There was something worthwhile to explore there, but Aimee Lagos's screenplay is too limited and boilerplate to do anything about it.
No Good Deed
Directed by: Sam Miller
Written by: Aimee Lagos
Starring: Idris Elba, Taraji P. Henson, Leslie Bibb, Henry Simmons
