Ingrid Goes West - A Film Review

Ingrid Goes West – A Film Review

           

            Social media can be deceptive in that its users often present themselves in their best possible light, carefully curating the good in their life without nuance. It can appear as if life is always positive and carefree, and for lonely, socially awkward people, it can exacerbate depression and feelings of inadequacy. For Ingrid (Aubrey Plaza), the character in Matt Spicer's thriller meets comedy Ingrid Goes West, her idyllic self is informed by Instagram “influencers,” sun-kissed, L.A. boho-chic blonde women who post filtered images of sunsets, vintage boutiques, avocado toast, and their equally handsome husbands, peppered with hashtags like #blessed or #livelaughlove.

            Ingrid's eyes, reflected by the glow of her smartphone, light up at the thought of becoming friends with these women and entering their world, and she habitually stalks social media stars, infiltrating their lives, and lashing out when she is rejected by her dream “best friend.” When the film opens, she crashes the wedding reception of a social media star, pepper-sprays her, and is institutionalized in a psychiatric hospital. Ingrid doesn't understand the extent to which she hurt people, thinking that she was being misunderstood. Upon release from the hospital to the quiet home of her recently deceased mother, Ingrid's only companion is her smartphone, with which she scrolls through Instagram profiles similar to her target, beginning the cycle all over again.

            After discovering the profile of Taylor (Elizabeth Olsen), a photographer with L.A. upscale hippie tastes, Ingrid works on being seen by Taylor and receiving acknowledgment. Ingrid clearly struggles with social awkwardness and possibly being on the autism spectrum. She works harder to mimic the socially accepted cues of likable women and seem off-the-cuff and charming.

           She crafts the perfect comment on a post about avocado toast, re-writing it several times, including ways of expressing laughter on the Internet (“heh-heh-heh” vs. “hahahaha”), and revising her own social boundaries.Through these superficial connections, Ingrid ends up cashing out her mother's large inheritance, flying to L.A., and conniving her way into Taylor's life through “chance” encounters and, Single White Female-style, dyeing her hair to match Taylor's.

           

Plaza excels at simultaneously mixing both vulnerability and intensity. Her eyes have this sharp focus to them, whether she is reading a favorite author of Taylor's, memorizing Taylor's preferences on social media, lighting up whenever Taylor acknowledges her as being “the best” or posting a photo of them together on Instagram (and letting out an excited squeal upon seeing it go live). Plaza highlighted similar traits in the indie comedy The To-Do List, in which she plays a perfectionist teen trying to become more sexually experienced in the summer between high school and college. Plaza has this very particular strength in playing tightly wound and awkward people trying hard to act confident and casual, while mentally checking themselves on the right things to say and do. With Ingrid, she mirrors Taylor's California vocal fry voice, laughing in a forced attempt to sound carefree, and claiming that her landlord (O'Shea Jackson, Jr., in a scene-stealing performance as an sweet and kind aspiring screenwriter and a lover of Batman) is her boyfriend.

            While Plaza is the heart of the film, the rest of the characters aren't as well-developed or as complex. Olsen, as a character actress known for both indie dramas and Marvel films, is believable as a superficial photographer who seems friendly on the surface, but treats people as if they are the backdrop to her curated life. This is especially distasteful in a scene where she makes a gas station employee take multiple photos of her and Ingrid in posed shots for Instagram, goading the man to lie on the dusty ground to take glamour shots of them from below while affecting a patronizing and disingenuously sweet tone with him. Taylor may have been Ingrid's idol, but to the audience, she often came off as very ordinary and indistinct from many other upwardly mobile L.A. women. Her fatal flaw is that she talks in a hyperbolic manner, saying that everything is the best and amazing, and Ingrid takes it literally, believing that if Taylor says that she is the best, that she truly is Taylor's one and only best friend.

            Jackson, Jr., as Ingrid's landlord turned boyfriend Danny, is a standout. Billy Magnussen plays Taylor's reckless, supposedly sober brother Nicky, a rich trust fund baby with frat boy looks.

           Both actors infused a lot of energy and charisma at different levels. Jackson, Jr., best known for portraying real-life father Ice Cube in Straight Outta Compton, brought a chill, laid-back vibe to Danny, whose Batman fandom gives him a lot of heart as a nerd. At times, Danny did seem too forgiving of Ingrid's egregious behavior, and it felt unrealistic that he would be this trusting or understanding of a woman that he barely knows. He compliments Ingrid by saying, “You have a different kind of ring to you,” which is a large understatement.

            Magnussen, meanwhile, brings to Nicky a fast-talking arrogance and a disregard for other people. He has a scorched earth view of life, only seeing ahead to the next moment. He is a terrible person, but shakes up Ingrid's life. He is, perhaps, the complication that Ingrid needs to have in her life to end her dangerous cycle of stalking and emulating social media stars.

            Ingrid Goes West is a solid film that largely rests on the success of Plaza's nuanced performance as a vulnerable and lonely young woman who does terrible things to people in order to feel loved and accepted. People quickly accept Ingrid into their lives without doing any Google searches or social media searches on her, which is odd considering the characters' frequent use of social media. It does stretch the suspension of disbelief that other people wouldn't become more suspicious or more cautious of Ingrid's obsessive behavior, and wouldn't just block her number or ghost her with a slow fade. While Ingrid is able to manipulate people through a charming persona, it seems unlikely that it would last very long. She would likely be shunned from social circles. Plaza's performance is great, as she is truly a gifted actress that, who, while a capable comic improviser, can  find the dramatic center of a deeply troubled individual.