Borderline marks Jimmy Warden’s directorial debut, teaming up with his wife Samara Weaving for the second time after The Babysitter: Killer Queen; Warden wrote and Weaving returned to the sequel in a smaller supporting role.
With an additional writing credit for Cocaine Bear for Warden, and Weaving’s status as a modern scream queen, a dark comedy thriller like Borderline seems like a match made in heaven. And while it has its moments, the ideas and characters never fully come together.
Borderline plot
Set in 1990s Los Angeles, Duerson (Ray Nicholson) is a delusional, obsessed fan and stalker of pop star Sofia (Samara Weaving). Duerson believes the two are soulmates, and breaks into her house for what he intends to be their wedding night. Sofia, along with her (kind of?) boyfriend DeVante and bodyguard Bell (Eric Dane), must fight for their lives before she’s forced to say “I do.”
Borderline review
Borderline has all the makings of a fun, smart, twisty thriller. Unfortunately, it also has the makings of a dark comedy, psychological thriller, hostage thriller, and romantic drama. And that’s its biggest issue. It doesn’t know what kind of movie it wants to be.
There are various character pairings, and each pair feels like they’re in their own separate movie. In the midst of all the other chaos, Sofia and DeVante are trying to figure what their relationship actually is. That could be a good story, if that was where it stopped. Bell and his daughter and nanny are in the hostage scenario. Hostages during a home invasion. Done, book it, make it, sell it. Duerson and his cronies shoulder most of the comedic weight, but that darkly comic side doesn’t always jive with what the rest of the characters are going through.
Borderline clocks in at only 94 minutes, and with so many different clashing vibes, no part gets the time it needs to fully develop. Every character and side plot gets a little bit, just enough to get you interested. But then it shifts to one of the other groupings, and the momentum resets. There’s also not much overlap between all the groups. And that only serves to make the disconnect even stronger.
Borderline also sets itself up to have something interesting and important to say about mental health. Duerson is not just some crazed, dangerous fan. He is that, but he’s not only that. He is someone with clear, serious mental health issues. There are moments when the script asks you to have empathy for him, and some of those moments are handled delicately and with enough to care to make you feel for Duerson. But the balance is off. For most of the movie, he’s a crazed fan who is threatening multiple peoples’ lives.
Warden clearly wants to put the complexity of mental health at the forefront of the story. And it’s an admirable undertaking. But he doesn’t have the touch here. It’s all over the place. There are times where it feels like he’s using Duerson’s mental issues for cheap laughs. And when compared to the moments where Duerson is more deftly handled, those jokes are more than a little off-putting. It’s hard to pinpoint what exactly Warden wants to say about mental health.
It’s not all bad, though. The performances are mostly good across the board. Samara Weaving is great as expected. But with all the characters spending so much time apart, she gets relegated to the sidelines a bit too much. She’s a star, use her as such. Ray Nicholson is the true lead, and he shines as the morally imperfect Duerson. He can act sweet and loving towards Sofia before flipping a switch and instantly tapping into the darker side of the character.
Jimmie Fails’ DeVante Rhodes is surprisingly the weak link. It’s not that Fails is bad – he isn’t. But DeVante is the least developed of all the characters. And with the inspiration for his character being so obvious (Warden might as well have named him Dennis Rodman), it was a missed opportunity to do something, anything, outrageous and fun with him. This is a movie where an over-the-top person like a Rodman-esque character could have easily slotted in and felt completely in step with everything else.
But it’s Alba Baptista as Duerson’s sadistic partner Penny that steals the show. The Portuguese actress might still be more well-known to American audiences and Chris Evans’ wife, but make no mistake about it, she’s got the goods. This probably won’t be high-profile enough to be considered a Stateside star-making role, but hopefully will still be good exposure to get her more, bigger roles going forward. She’s asked to do a lot, with physical comedy, quippy one-liners, all while being a bubbly sadist. Baptista is Borderline’s clear highlight.
Is Borderline worth watching?
If forced into a binary answer, it’s unfortunately a no. Borderline explores interesting and worthwhile themes, but it’s too scattered to ever fully come together. Samara Weaving, Ray Nicholson, and (especially) Alba Baptista do everything they can to overcome its shortcomings, but they don’t quite get all the way there.
Borderline releases in theaters and on digital platforms on March 14.
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