Rock Paper Scissors

July 19, 2021
Londoners Amelia and Adam Wright, the couple at the center of this craftily plotted if flawed domestic thriller from bestseller Feeney (His & Hers), are spending the weekend at spooky Blackwater Chapel in the Scottish Highlands on what is meant to be a last-ditch effort to save their 10-year marriage. Each harbors darker agendas for the weekend, as does the mysterious, hermit-like neighbor, Robin, who frightens Amelia when Amelia catches the woman peering at her through a chapel window. The plot takes some perilous turns in ways both predictable—a power outage, dangerously loose stones in the wall of the chapel’s belfry—and not, as alternating narrations from the trio open a Pandora’s box packed with secrets, lies, and betrayals. Feeney’s signature misdirection sets up gasp-worthy twists down the stretch even if they, like the characters, come off as arbitrary and artificial. In contrast to His & Hers, some may walk away from this one feeling more snookered than satisfied. Agent: Jonny Geller, Curtis Brown.