Stephen King’s It is one of the funniest movies I’ve seen all year. For any other movie starring a clown, this would be high praise. However, horror enthusiasts sucked in by the film’s marketing may leave theatres disappointed.
It is set in the town of Derry, Maine, during the summer of 1989. Derry is a strange town: adults and children disappear at unfathomably high rates. These disappearances are at the hands of Pennywise the Dancing Clown (Bill Skarsgård). Every 27 years, the sinister and mysterious figure returns to Derry to abduct and feed upon the fear of local children.
After younger brother Georgie falls victim to Pennywise, Bill Denbrough (Jaeden Lieberher) and his rag-tag group of friends The Losers Club embark on a mission to confront Pennywise, their own fears, and rescue the lost kids of Derry.
The film is competently shot and edited, but The Losers Club absolutely steals the show. This is thanks to the strength of the writing and the incredible performances from each of the young cast members.
For once it feels as though a major Hollywood film understands how middle-school aged kids speak and act, and portrays this effectively.
The writers have lovingly crafted genuine and hilarious dialogue that feels true to being 14 years old. What this translates to is a lot of cursing, banter, and jokes at the expense of sisters and moms.
Two kids stand tall above the others. Stranger Things breakout Finn Wolfhard oozes charisma as resident loud-mouth Richie Tozier. With a quick wit, Wolfhard delivers many laugh-out-loud lines with expert timing. Jack Dylan Grazer also shines as Eddie Kaspbrak, a hypochondriac prone to comedic fits of concern.
All their performances form an emotional core in The Losers Club that the audience quickly grows to care for; even so, it was the first appearance of Pennywise many moviegoers anxiously awaited.
Skarsgård makes a truly unsettling Pennywise. Unlike the silly nature of Tim Curry’s original 1990 performance, Skarsgård comes across as truly deranged. The constantly drooling, absently staring, manically laughing clown provides It with an unnerving on-screen presence.
It offers plenty of disturbing imagery, such as the slideshow sequence seen in trailers, but turns Pennywise into a joke unto himself when forced into overblown, aggressive scares more akin to a haunted house.
Ultimately, the film simply isn’t scary. The scare attempts don’t play into the great acting Skarsgård—or The Losers Club—provides.
In lieu of playing the horror subtly, leaning on the creepy and unpredictable nature of Pennywise and his conjurations of character’s individual fears to build tension, the scares are loud, obnoxious, and well-forecast.
By hinting towards scares with rising music ending in a loud crescendo, the movie robs itself of a tense atmosphere. Distracting sound design combined with scares that devolve into overblown pseudo-action scenes turn an unnerving, frightening figure into a goofy monster focused on unnecessarily big moments.
If director Andy Muschietti permitted a quiet moment, then the tension inherent to encounters with Pennywise would grow to a boiling point and pay off scares naturally.
This leaves a mixed bag. It’s major claim to fame feels completely mismanaged. Skarsgård’s great performance is undercut by lowest-common-denominator scares, with the movie insisting on startling you into submission.
Despite missing the horror mark, the heart of The Losers Club really shines through. It’s worth emphasizing how well these kids sell both their comedic, fun group dynamic and utter terror toward Pennywise.
Make no mistake: It is more than worth seeing, with the right expectations. Though severely lacking in horror, the film thrives on fantastic performances that make for an incredibly fun viewing experience.
