Sharp Corner: An Unimpactful Obsession Thriller

Moving out of the city and into the suburbs seemed like a dream to Josh McCall (Foster), his wife Rachel (Smulders), and their son Max (William Kosovic). Describing the mid-century modern house as their dream home, their dream, however, was smashed once frequent car crashes start occurring outside their house. A story of obsession, Josh becomes fixated on these crashes and what he could have done to prevent the deaths of those involved. Sharp Corner offers a look at obsession that isn’t too different from other films, featuring a character so devoured by their obsession that they lose it all. Despite its admittedly interesting premise, the film never quite lives up to what some may consider darkly comedy based on its description, ultimately delivering a tedious and overlong end product. 

The aforementioned premise, that saw Josh and Rachel’s dream house plagued by frequent car crashes, is caused by the sharp corner in front of their house, with each crash experiencing a death that the former feels responsible for. He wants to be a savior, the hero of the story so to speak, becoming so obsessed that he would go to great lengths to hide the depth of his obsession. In spite of Josh’s unique obsession, the film’s overall beats are fairly typical of a film revolved about obsession, playing out in a fairly standard way where the obsessed essentially loses everything and gains very little in return. Over time, Josh becomes more distant from his family. The story beats on their own almost play into a sort of camp; Josh starts taking CPR classes and even goes as far as to buy a CPR mannequin and hide it in one of the bedrooms. Though it certainly makes for an interesting tone, one that is mildly absurd in some of its ideas and their executions, but is also deeply serious in its depiction of Josh’s obsession with the accidents. There’s a question as to whether it all works, or if it should’ve stuck more to one side of the coin, either a deeply unserious, campy comedy or more rooted in a thriller approach.

That being said, outside of its fairly standard premise, the story and characters simply weren’t very interesting. Part of this can be attributed to the pacing, which feels all over the place at times, particularly in the middle of the film. The arc of the story, from beginning to end, feels too slow and oftentimes like it held too much back too in how Josh’s obsession manifests. One can’t help but wonder that if the story had gone down more an absurdist route, its execution may have been more successful. Foster is certainly good in his role as he dove deeper and deeper down Josh’s fixation, but Smulders suffers from not having very much to do other than be the annoyed wife. While certainly plays the role well, Rachel did not have a lot to do, thus limiting what she could bring to the character. 

Partially suffering from its inability to fully commit to its tone, Sharp Corner seems as if it would have benefitted leaning into one or the other and not trying to be a thriller with some elements of dark comedy. Though its premise and themes it brings to the table are interesting, those of trauma, masculinity, PTSD and how they intersect with the McCall family dynamic, but the film fails to delve into them enough to leave any kind of an impact on audiences. By the end, the result is merely another standard film about a character’s particular obsession and how they came to lose everything as a result. 

In the end, Sharp Corner definitely boasts an interesting premise, looking into a character’s peculiar obsession takes the subgenre in a unique direction. However, its short story source material (based on the story of the same name by Russell Wangersky), can be felt in its runtime. The film could have benefitted from a shorter runtime, overstaying its welcome by 10 to 15 minutes. Above all else, its paint-by-numbers execution, and its bland story and characters, failed to sell the story and even though Ben Foster is giving it his all with another great performance, Sharp Corner fails to leave an impact (no pun intended). 

Score: 45/100

still courtesy of Elevation Pictures

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Jasmine Graham