Mother’s revenge is sweet in entertaining ‘Magpie’
There’s nothing remarkable in “Magpie,” a by-the-numbers thriller about cleverly getting even with a cheating spouse. Well, not unless you count it having been spawned from a germ of an idea emanating from the devious mind of “Star Wars” heroine Daisy Ridley.
She rightly thought it would be amusing for a jilted wife to have the last laugh on a boorish husband who mistakenly believes the bearer of his two kids is too taken with motherhood to notice him lusting for his daughter’s co-star in a movie she’s been cast in.
As luck would have it, Ridley is married to screenwriter Tom Bateman, who fleshed out her concept into the script that became “Magpie.” Ridley liked it so much that she opted to produce and star in it as Annette, a chic city woman who has yet to warm to her husband Ben’s decision to trade in their London flat for a stately home in the suburban woods. Sure, the countryside is ideal for raising the kids, but it comes at the cost of her job as a publishing assistant, not to mention her sanity.
Not that Ben (Shazad Latif), a moderately well-known author, gives a good goddamn. He’s more invested in how the isolating of Annette has spiced up his love life. Not with Annette, but with the long line of women in London who find his man-bun irresistible. That includes Alicia (Matilda Anna Ingrid Lutz), the sexy 20-something actress portraying the mother of his daughter, Tillie (Hiba Ahmed), in a Jane Austen-y indie being filmed on a grand estate just outside the city. As Tillie’s chaperone, Ben gets to spend lots of time on set with Alicia, who’s in a particularly vulnerable state after a private sex tape finds its way onto social media.
Ben comforts her and admonishes any crew members giggling behind Alicia’s back. What a guy! Where it all leads is hardly a surprise. But there is more than a little heat between Latif and Lutz, as they manage to share X-rated thoughts in a G-rated vernacular that flies right over Tillie’s head. She thinks Daddy and Alicia are just good friends. So much so, that she innocently lets slip what Ben and Alicia have been up to during downtimes in Alicia’s home and trailer.
What ensues defies credulity, as Annette cooks up an elaborate plot to knock Ben’s ego down a few pegs. How she pulls it off is delightfully clever and culminates in a most satisfying comeuppance. And it’s Latif who sells it, as Ben deconstructs before our eyes, sustaining a complete and total deflation of his swollen ego.
It’s great fun and sparks more than a touch of schadenfreude, even though you’re not buying it for a second. If such a ruse were possible, one would suspect MI-5 or MI-6 would be beating a path to Annette’s door.
Perhaps that could be the sequel, Annette assuming the position of a female James Bond on a mission to avenge every scorned woman the world over. And doing it with a license to kill. Now, that would be something to see.
Movie review
Magpie
Rated: R for language and sexual situations
Cast: Daisy Ridley, Shazad Latif, Matilda Anna Ingrid Lutz and Hiba Ahmed
Director: Sam Yates
Writer: Tom Bateman
Runtime: 90 minutes
Where: In theaters now
Grade: B-
