Rating: C+
Dir: Craig Zobel
Star: Ann Dowd, Dreama Walker, Pat Healy, Bill Camp
When this screened at Sundance, there were a significant number of walkouts. You can add Chris to the list: this annoyed her to such a degree that the usual doom-scrolling of Twitter proved insufficient defense, and she departed the living-room entirely. Not many films have triggered such a reaction from her: The Girl Next Door is the only recent example I can imagine. Back in her teenage days, she actually was the manager of a fast-food restaurant – one of the youngest in Burger King at the time – and was not impressed by the action of the people here. Yet, the film’s strongest suit is it is almost entirely accurate. It may be its biggest weakness too.
Back from 1994 through 2004, various establishments – usually fast-food joints, though also including grocery and video stores – received phone calls supposedly from the police. The caller would ask for a manager, and request their help investigating a crime involving a female employee. The manager would be requested to search the employee; if they did, further and more invasive demands would be made, up to sexual assault. It’s estimated there were over 70 such incidents. It may seem amazing how the managers acquiesced to the outrageous and disturbing orders from a phone voice. Yet there are a lot of studies, most famously that of Stanley Milgram (as referenced in Shellter), showing how people will obey even the most harmful requests, if these are perceived as coming from authority figures.
In this case, the proxy abuser is Sandra (Dowd), manage of a ChickWich restaurant. She’s already having a bad day, with corporate likely to drop the hammer on her. So when “Officer Daniels” (Healy) calls in, accusing one of her employees of theft, she’s all too willing to comply. The victim is Becky (Walker), who is accused of stealing from a customer. By the end of her ordeal, she’s going to be naked in a backroom, doing jumping jacks, and giving Sandra’s fiancé, Van (Camp), a blow-job, all at the behest of Daniels. It’s thoroughly ridiculous: but this is a case where truth appears to be stranger than fiction, since it seems an entirely accurate depiction of one of these incident, as it unfolded at a Kentucky McDonald’s.
On that basis, I feel the situation would perhaps be better served by a documentary – and there is a three-part one about these cases on Netflix, Don’t Pick Up The Phone. This movie may be a faithful recreation of the situation, and I’ve no complaints about the performances: Dowd, in particular, is very convincing. But I can’t say that this provided any particular insight into the psychology of the situation, and that’s what I would have found more interesting. The motivation of the man claiming to be Daniels, for instance, remains utterly opaque [in reality, a man was eventually charged, although found not guilty at trial]. It makes for uncomfortable viewing, certainly. The point here is harder to discern.