This is less of a review and more of an analysis of the story and themes that resonated with me as I watched The Vicious Kind. If you need a little review than here's a quickie. First, it was noteworthy enough for me to invest time, energy, and thought to share with you. Second, Adam Scott, Brittany Snow, and J.K. Simmons all played their roles excellently. Third, after I finished the film I told Netflix to give it four stars. I recommend this film. However, this is not a family movie. Your children will ask questions. They won't understand. You won't understand how to answer their questions. They'll want to know why. You won't know why. Save yourself, don't watch The Vicious Kind with your children. The title itself practically implores you not to watch this film with your children!
On to the Analysis.
What brings people together? Why do some individuals choose the company of jerks? What’s the appeal? The Vicious Kind begins to answer these questions in the first lines. But before any lines are spoken a very tense and confounding relationship is established between two men, one very young, the other slowly waning into middle age. The viewer is immediately forced to ask who are these two people and why are they together. Once Caleb begins to speak the question is no longer out of curiosity, but one of raging consternation. “Why is this kid with this jerk!?”
The answer is simple, in a sense. Caleb Sinclair and Peter Sinclair are brothers. One is broken, one is innocent. One has a list of psychological issues, the other possesses a free conscious. One is used, the other new. Peter’s cumulative life experiences have no way of allowing him to relate to Caleb’s brashness. As the movie progresses, however, one thing becomes clear: Caleb’s greatest motive is to protect Peter. The conflict lies in who Peter needs to be protected from.
Emma Gainsborough, Peter’s new girlfriend, is the target of Caleb’s most concentrated rage. Yet, the dark haired girl with a strand of hair in her eyes doesn’t appear to be a threat to Peter’s innocence. The most apparent obstacle to anyone’s peace of mind is Caleb alone. Ten minutes into The Vicious Kind the viewer has forgotten the film opened with a tearing, possibly vulnerable, Caleb. By the time he is finished with his first interactions with Peter and Emma Caleb is an unpleasant and disturbed man.
Surprisingly, as the movie progresses Caleb Sinclair shows redemptive qualities. He is cruel, yes. Even ruthless at times. But he’s also the first man to aid a victim. He’s the man of the hour in a moment of crises. Caleb Sinclair is a man of action. Put him in a costume with raging muscles and he may be the newest superhero vigilante. Assuming he had a pack of smokes on hand.
The strength of The Vicious Kind is that the Sinclair's and Emma Gainsborough are all believable characters. They have motives, incentives, and history that combine to create fully fleshed personalities. The character’s have mystery surrounding their pasts. They’re captivating and enticing. An idea, or an assumption, of who each character is develops naturally. Caleb is the broken and angry thirty-something loser, Emma the wise worldly girl, Peter the naive and happy-go-lucky college boy, and Donald is the middle aged man reaching desperately for happier times lost.
Ideas of people are created constantly in real life. Often, an idea of someone is more exciting than the actual person. A hyper-realistic persona is created to replace the actual person. As humans we all have routines, quirks, flaws, history, and idiosyncrasies that make us unique, although not perfect.
A new acquaintance can be anyone. An angel or a devil. The Vicious Kind suggests the truth lies somewhere in between. As the film illustrates, people are rarely who or what they're assumed to be. Caleb makes strong assumptions about Emma. Assumptions that drive his motivations throughout the entire movie. But all of his motives are dashed when he discovers who Emma really is. Caleb is forced to confront himself and the assumptions he has constructed, and the truth proves more powerful than his preconceptions.
Relationships are complicated enough without false assumptions. Left unchecked they cause pain, destroy relationships, and isolate individuals. Caleb’s assumptions left him estranged from his family. The ideas he conceived in his head created misery for himself and the one he desired to protect. Assumptions don’t protect, they only harm. Not until reconciling his assumptions with truth was Caleb able to release years of indignation and approach the steps of his father’s door.
JP Miller