Kill Your Friends (2015) Nicholas Hoult, Craig Roberts, James Corden, Tom Riley, Georgia King, Joseph Mawle, Rosanna Arquette, Ed Skrein Movie Review

Kill Your Friends (2015)   2/52/52/52/52/5


Nicholas Hoult in Kill Your Friends (2015)

The Karma Game

Steven Stelfox (Nicholas Hoult) is an A&R man who is ambitious and wants to be the head of the department. Unfortunately he doesn't give a damn about the acts he tries to sign as long as they make money that is all that matters. But with others ahead of his for promotion and the CEO looking outside of the company Steven is going to have to do the unthinkable if he is going to get the job which he wants.

It all starts so well as we meet Steven Stelfox giving us that inner monologue insight into the dog eat dog world of the music industry whilst quite literally pissing all over a colleague, played by James Corden, who he has drugged. There is almost a "Wolf of Wallstreet" vibe to this as the movie seems to be setting itself up for us to follow the dubious rise of Stelfox as he doesn't give a damn about anything other than his own rise up to the top. And some of the insights into the world of music are entertainingly insightful and blunt.

Unfortunately after a decent start "Kill Your Friends" goes tits up as it gets torn between two different storylines which in fairness are connected but most of the time don't. On one side we have dealing with that every tightening noose around his neck as having murdered Roger Waters finds himself being questioned by a cop and blackmailed by someone who knows the truth. And then on the other side we watch as Stelfox's ambitious side takes a kick in the nuts as not only does he sign up some bad acts but a rival is hired to be his new boss. It just doesn't come together and a lot of the time it feels like the producers spent more money of getting the rights to use various songs than on making the storyline work.

Despite "Kill Your Friends" end up failing to work as a piece of dramatic entertainment with a comedy side the one thing it does highlight is how good Nicholas Hoult is. From delivering the posh, matter of fact voice to the humour of his world spinning out of control as karma kicks him in the proverbial nuts he is entertaining. Truth be told with out Nicholas Hoult this would have been unwatchable and he deserves to be in better movies than this.

What this all boils down to is that as an idea "Kill Your Friends" had potential but the finished movie was a mess, a pain to watch and with out focus as it switches between ideas. But it does feature Nicholas Hoult who manages to come out of this having shown what a talent he is.


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