Maximalist black comedy by Greg Jardin

In It’s what’s insidea group of old college friends gather to party together one last time before one of them – a rich kid named Reuben (Devon Terrell) – gets married. They had planned a night of drunken revelry and nostalgic reminiscing, but things would take a very different turn when Forbes (David W Thompson) – the eccentric friend none of them have heard from since their college days – shows up with a mysterious man in the hand. briefcase.

Writer-director Greg Jardin’s debut feature bursts with creative energy from the start. The film opens with an argument between Cyrus (James Morosini) and Shelby (Brittany O’Grady), with the camera moving back and forth between the long-term boyfriend and girlfriend at an increasingly rapid pace until the effect is almost nauseating. During the car ride to the meeting, the screen begins to break up into different segments, showing Shelby’s social media feed as Cyrus’ voice gradually demands less and less of her attention.

When they finally arrive, two other guests – Brooke (Reina Hardesty) and Maya (Nina Bloomgarden) – tell them about the events that led to Forbes’ expulsion from the group, depicted to the audience as a series of flipbook-style books. Facebook photos from that night, the details changing as Brooke and Maya correct each other’s memories. It’s a lot of fun, but that quickly becomes clear It’s what’s inside is not just here to dazzle us with visual trickery.

From the split-screens to the flashbacks to Cyrus and Shelby’s obsession with their influencer friend Nikki (Alycia Debnam-Carey), everything in the film points toward a central idea about how we see ourselves and each other. And that idea becomes even more important to them all when Forbes opens his briefcase and reveals a machine that allows them all to swap bodies.

It’s a clever science fiction conceit It’s what’s inside builds an even cleverer story when the group decides to play a mafia-style game where they all randomly switch bodies (or at least Forbes assures them it’s random) and try to guess who each person really is. Just like in Joss Whedon’s mind-expanding television series Dollhousewe see actors first playing their own character and then playing another character while trying to avoid detection. It’s dizzying stuff in the most enjoyable way, as you try to keep track of which characters you’re actually watching at any given moment.

The chance to step into each other’s bodies also gives each character the opportunity to do things they would never have been comfortable doing in their own skin. The film wisely magnifies the messiness of it all by establishing that this is a social group full of unrequited crushes, secret affairs, and long-held grudges, all of which bubble to the surface as the night progresses.

At one point, the characters sit in a circle as they prepare to start the next round of the game. The camera pans from one face to another, moving faster and faster until the entire room turns into a colorful blur. And that’s the sensation that sums it up best It’s what’s insidewhile the camera, the cuts, the needle drops and the story twists all add to the feeling of a machine running faster and faster until it eventually spins out of control.

To some extent, it can feel like our sense of who each character is and what switching to a certain body could mean for them is getting a little lost in the shuffle. The film brings up ideas about Shelby being jealous of Nikki’s allure and how the more oafish guys like Cyrus might be jealous of Reuben’s outgoing charms, but it’s all a bit thin. And this becomes a slightly bigger problem when some of the drama of the third act actually depends on one of these dynamics.

For the grand finale, the film attempts a Midsummer-like explosion of catharsis. When we see a man being burned alive in Ari Aster’s film, we are aware that this cannot rationally be called a just punishment for his crimes, but it is still satisfying because the man in question is a ruthless, gaslighting bastard has been. , and the kind that usually remains unavenged on screen. It’s what’s inside the formula becomes a little off and the darkly comic note on which it ends becomes less satisfying. But just as a good party game isn’t ruined by a mediocre final round, Jardin’s film is way too much fun to hold back its mildly disappointing denouement.