This movie, with a bit of good will and clever promotion should do for ridesharing what Jaws did for sharks. Rideshare, however, is more than just a mindless killing machine, it is a damning indictment of modern America. It will no doubt ruffle feathers amongst the snowflakes that now lurch from moral outrage to outrage and the people who truly believe they are "stars" but I can think of no better a target for derision. A good target, but does the movie hit the target? Yes, its a kill shot.
Cometh the hour cometh the man. Travis Bickle had his gas guzzling yellow taxi, Jason has a Pruis, but Iam not so sure he cares about the environment. Using the Hitch app (wonder what real life app this might be based on?) our driver picks up the weird and not so wonderful snowflakes that exist in LA. In between he gives us his views on LA and modern day existence. Into his car steps a cross section of that generation known as Millennials, call them what you will, but I prefer the term snowflakes. He listens to their self obsessed ramblings, their outrage, their nonsense and helpfully offers them a bottle of water... just before he murders them! Some of them are just annoying and rritating but in the case of the woman snowflake who found a grass skirted Hawaiian toy offensive they are absolutely obnoxious. They are all, however, very real, we all know people like this, in my case I am as rude to them as I can be so they leave me the hell alone. Poor Jason has to listen to them day in day out, I have to assume that's his backstory.
When I first started to watch this movie I did have my doubts, the male lead did a great job in his role but his voice was almost too sinister, but as I watched the film this initial misgiving became less obvious. As Jason upped the ante he became more sinister and his voice matched his character perfectly. The acting was generally good but with some ropey moments. The special effects are minimal but they don't need to be special, this is a seemingly mundane guy doing a mundane job. This is a movie designed to be creepy, to make you think twice about getting in a car with a stranger, particularly if you happen to be one of those obnoxious people who find everything offensive.
I really enjoyed this movie and I believe most people outside of generation snowflake will probably enjoy it too. Whilst this is a movie that is undoubtedly creepy it is not without humour. My main issue with the movie is that it's run time was too long, the movie could have been shorter and still had the same impact. There is also a sub plot that felt too contrived and whilst the ending offers opportunity it is not the ending I would have liked, but its not my film so not my call.
Summary: generation snowflake will not get it but as Jason said:
"Aloha b*tch!"
7 out of 10