I’m so happy to live a life of anonymity. While there are plenty of benefits to living your whole life in the public eye, it’s easier than ever for it to quickly overwhelm you in all sorts of ways. So for all you artists/online daters who think you’ve instantly connected with a new person you just met, Lurker is a warning to make sure you do a little vetting first, before you jump right in. Now smile for the camera!
Matthew Morning (Theodore Pellerin) is living an invisible life in the city of celebrity, Los Angeles. Desperate for something better, he lucks out when on the pop star on the rise Oliver (Archie Madekwe) comes into the clothing store he works at. Matthew wins him over with his music taste, after which Oliver invites him into his inner circle including his Oliver’s best buds Swett (Zack Fox) and Bowen (Wale Onayemi). Oliver’s manager Shai (Havana Rose Liu), gives Matthew a piece of advice: just make yourself useful, which he takes to heart….in the most uncomfortable ways possible.
I see the potential in writer/director Alex Russell’s pitch. Modern times have made lurking easier than ever, and centering the movie on a lurker is ripe for some thrills. Russell makes Matthew intentionally murky; he’s got some ok traits (loves grandma is a slam dunk), but at his core he’s completely malleable for the first popular person to come into his orbit. Oliver’s too self absorbed to see the signs before Matthew just slithers his way into his posse. The best moments of the movie are the quiet nights of scouring social media Matthew does to make sure he’s wearing the perfect outfit, or giving the “right” piece of advice to his new “friend.” That, and the completely cringe inducing attempts Matthew makes to fix his mistake when he’s made. Oliver’s filmmaker Noah (Daniel Zolghadri) senses immediately Matthew is on his corner, and the passive aggressive “can I help you?”s they give each other is some of the most awkward insincere conversation I’ve seen that has definitely happened behind the scenes in celebrity groupies.
As the threats close in around Matthew, his actions become more desperate.. and dangerous. Russell flirts pretty close with the believability line a few times in an otherwise grounded film, which might lose some of the audience right before we reach the ending, wondering where the movie is going. But that’s so the director can get us to the final 20 minutes. Where Lurker is going is somewhere twisted, daring, and endlessly fascinating, becoming an indictment of artistic endeavors as a whole, and the price people have to pay to not only make great art, but stay in the spotlight by any means necessary. This all works thanks to Russell’s script and the two leads. Archie Madekwe is the right mixture of charming, hubris and naivete, and Theodore Pellerin plays a programmable robot masquerading as a human, chillingly so.
I’m so thankful I deleted my dating apps. Lurker made me doubly appreciate a life of privacy and quiet. It’s nice knowing I can trust the people I’m around, who want to be around me because all I have to offer is my friendship. I guess they haven’t figured me out yet, mwah ha ha ha!