Good morning, House of Madness hostages:
When it comes to family, there's just about nothing you wouldn't do in order to help a loved one in need. You have to be up at 5a.m. because you're covering for your boss and can't be late, but you're still happy your daughter called for a ride at 3a.m. instead of getting in a car full of drunken idiots. Selling your tickets to see the Foo Fighters live in concert because it coincides with your son's hockey tournament is a difficult sacrifice to make, but it's an easy decision that's made without so much as an ounce of delay. That last slice of pizza just sitting in the box, so lonely and begging for someone to invite it onto their plate, while your children stare - begging for you to give them the thumbs up.......fuck no, that's where I draw the line; it's not like they didn't get any or even paid for it, so when it comes to the last slice, eggroll, or chicken wing, those little bastards are out of luck, and the catering train has come to a screeching halt - go have an apple.
"Missing" focuses on just how true the saying "Don't know what you've got 'til it's gone" is, as June's (Storm Reid) mom Grace (Nia Long) heads out on vacation with her new(ish) boyfriend Kevin (Ken Leung), and doesn't return. What starts out as an innocent enough case of missing adults, quickly spirals into conspiracy after conspiracy of who may have done what and why. Fingers are first pointed at Kevin, as he's an ex-con who was previously convicted of identity theft, extortion, and thieving innocent women out of thousands of dollars in an online dating scheme. When it comes to light that Grace also has a secret past of which June knows nothing about, things get even stranger and more complicated as Freddie's Fish Market wouldn't even be able to supply all of the red herrings being haphazardly tossed about.
By the time the big 'reveal' happens, I felt almost bamboozled, as the so-called mystery was only considered a puzzle because the audience wasn't given all the pieces in order to put things in place. I'm not suggesting a good mystery plays its cards away from the vest instead of tightly against it, but if you're going to try and trick me, don't hide the rabbit in a basement 3000 miles away. Other than this one major complaint, I did find "Missing" to be quite enjoyable, but when the entire film hinges on inauthentic and distracting clues, it's hard to ignore in the grand scheme of things. In the end, "Missing" left me feeling like a blind detective, following footprints out to the yard, through a swamp, and into a clearing where they simply stopped, while I checked my pocket-less jacket for invisible clues.
Madness Meter: 5.6/10
NB
