What could have been a dark and zany Coen Brothers style comedy about mistaken identity, kidnap and kinky antics, comes across as more of a mediocre Brit sitcom collision with a “Confessions of…” reboot. Writer/directors Ross Aitken and James Browning’s low brow/budget sex comedy strives to shock with bawdy humour and reckless audacity but suffers from a lack of likeable characters, well-honed story-telling, craft and imagination.

The set-up introduces us to Ben (Daniel Curshen) and Charlie (Genna Foden), a professional couple on the cusp of middle-age, whose relationship survives solely because of their experimental sex lives. While dogging, swinging and doing whatever it takes to keep the lust for each other alive, the couple’s adventures go south after Ben hires someone to kidnap them as part of a role play experience.

Kidnap Me

The plot doesn’t stretch much beyond the high concept but Kidnap Me is efficiently trimmed to a brisk 80 minutes so doesn’t outstay its welcome. Mistaken identity follows along with a series of calamitous escape attempts and sexual faux pas which could have amounted to a rowdy laugh riot but just seem crass and juvenile due to being fashioned without heart, intelligent irony or consideration of context. Budget limitations contribute to a droning DTV feel but, after a first half wilt, slight thrills arise due to plot twists, hapless goons and surprising character arcs.

Ultimately, Aitken and Browning spend too much time buttressing smut instead of refining the plot and characters, so Kidnap Me never amounts to more than its intriguing premise. Forget the scintillatingly and subversive sex comedy thriller it could have been with a bit more ingenuity, vision and elbow grease, what we’re left with is the cinematic equivalent of a faded, saucy postcard, crammed in a panic between the rotten wood panelling at the back of an old man’s shed.

Kidnap MeKidnap Me is streaming on Amazon Prime now.

REVIEW OVERVIEW
Kidnap Me
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Daniel Goodwin is a prevalent film writer for multiple websites including HeyUGuys, Scream Horror Magazine, Little White Lies, i-D and Dazed. After studying Film, Media and Cultural Studies at university and Creative Writing at the London School of Journalism, Daniel went on to work in TV production for Hat Trick Productions, So Television and The London Studios. He has also worked at the Home Office, in the private office of Hilary Benn MP and the Coroner's and Burials Department, as well as on the Movies on Pay TV market investigation for the Competition Commission.
kidnap-me-reviewThere is an intriguing premise here, and the cast do good work with it, however the crass nature of the execution brings the whole enterprise down.