- Dreama Walker as Becky in “Compliance”
“Compliance” is a hard film to review. Mostly because I didn’t believe a word of it, even if it was inspired by true events. I’ll get to that in a minute. First, I’ll set up the film.
“Compliance” is the story of Becky (Dreama Walker), a lowly fast food cashier, being accused of stealing from a woman’s person at the chicken sandwich restaurant she works at. Her boss, Sandra (Ann Dowd), gets a call from the police letting her know that Becky has stolen money, and Sandra is asked if she will hold Becky in the back room of the restaurant until the police can arrive.
What happens after the film is set up is not believable, and you start to hate the characters because of it.
The cop on the phone starts asking Sandra to do things that no cop would ever ask of anybody, like strip searching the young girl and taking her clothes, purse, and cell phone away from her. The thing is, I tried to believe this film. I wanted to like it. I thought I was going to get hooked in by the intriguing setup. I just couldn’t. I couldn’t begin to even fathom nobody questioning what the “cop” was asking them to do. At one point, Sandra calls up her almost-fiance, Van (Bill Camp), to come in and watch Becky in the back room because the restaurant was swamped. When Van gets on the phone with Becky, the cop asks him to search Becky’s body for the stolen money. This includes a rectal exam. When Becky puts up a fuss, the cop tells Van to spank her. So what does Van do? He spanks the maybe-20-year-old. Moreover, Van sexually abuses Becky by having her perform fellatio on him. Why? Because the cop says so. I’m sorry, but this is bullshit. What kind of reasonable human being would think this was a cop? Why would Becky not hit, scream, kick and fight her way out of it? I understand she was the victim, but how could one be that willing of a victim? I just don’t get it.
Obviously, the cop turns out to be a prank caller, using calling cards to hide his whereabouts. Also, this wasn’t an exclusive situation–apparently it happend over 70 times within a few months of this incident. I don’t think for a second that this happened to stupid people. It’s just that “Compliance” made them seem stupid. The problem was in the writing, plain and simple. I enjoy Ann Dowd as an actress, but her character was just infuriating. Ugh. This film could have been so much better. There’s a reason why this films conjured up so many boos and walkouts at it’s Sundance premiere.
You can watch the film on Netflix. You can view the trailer here.
Grade: C
Ryan at the Movies 