Eenie Meanie (2025) Dir: Shawn Simmons

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Shawn Simmons' energetic crime thriller arrived onto Disney Plus to little fanfare or advertisement, having received a fairly disappointing critical reception upon release. I myself was unsure of whether or not I should bother with it, but, evidently, I ultimately decided it was worth a go. I was hoping for some light entertainment, even if the film ended up being a bit of a car wreck, so-to-speak.

The first thing most people will notice when they watch this, is that it was very clearly heavily inspired by the hit Edgar Wright crime thriller; 'Baby Driver'. This film is nowhere as intensely stylised as that 2017 hit, but the degree of resemblance is uncanny. The film even features an upbeat, rhythmic soundtrack to go along with its exciting car chases, although these were far too few and far between for my money.

The writing was not particularly great, but it did at least have some pretty funny scenes, even if a lot of that was due to the actor's delivery of lines. I actually felt like the narrative had a fair amount of potential, but it faded in quality as it progressed. It fell apart completely when it reached its climax, with some absolutely nonsensical decisions being made by characters creating a very unsatisfying finish. What frustrated me most was that the ending provided was actually what I wanted for the character, but the way the film got to that ending was so poor.

It was impossible not to like Samara Weaving in this role, despite the wider film's issues. She was so good, and so funny, throughout the whole film. With a lesser actress, I have no doubts that this film would have been completely lost. I'm honestly surprised that she's not a bigger actress at this point in her career - she certainly has the talent to be. My fingers are crossed that more people see her acting in films like this, and come to the same conclusion.

Karl Glusman entertained me a whole lot more than I thought he would, in fairness to him. He was never truly convincing, but his comedic nouse was certainly there to appreciate. I wasn't all that compelled by his more serious acting, unfortunately, but he was definitely very funny when called upon.

As far as the rest of the cast went, it was Andy Garcia who stood out the most, albeit he barely featured. In fact, none of the supporting cast were particularly poor, but a lot of them felt wasted - there was definitely more juice to be rung put of them with the story being told. The others worth mentioning were Steve Zahn, Jermaine Fowler, former NFL player Marshawn Lynch, Randall Park, and Mike O'Malley.

Overall, I definitely enjoyed this film more than a lot of people, but I wasn't unaware to its faults. It's unfortunate that this film was trying so hard to be like 'Baby Driver', because it was never going to beat a modern classic like that. I fear the long-running, inevitable, comparisons will ultimately harm this film's long-term success. I digress, this was a fun film, despite all its flaws, and I certainly don't regret watching it.