Thirst Trap

Written and directed by Bob Freville, Thirst Trap tells the story of a group of aspiring actors struggling to make their mark in a brutal industry, before each of their lives are turned upside-down by predatory social media influencer Mason (Andrews) who promises them all of the dreams and fame they have been desperately chasing.

Thirst Trap is a film that obviously knows what it wants to say, but struggles to get it across coherently. Each character is a window into the realities of showbusiness and its frustrations, but are also studies of our modern times where people are willing to chase fame and success at any cost, and how those in positions of power use that imbalanced dynamic to take advantage of such people.

Firstly, there’s Robby (Yoo), an actor with disabilities looking to prove nothing can hold him back from achieving stardom and growing more and more frustrated when others patronisingly take pity on him because of his condition. There’s Mickey (Badolato), his friendly rival of sorts going for all the same parts yet also unable to catch his break, both of whom eventually become Mason’s victims. Then finally, there’s Roger (McGovern), a much older actor who previously was a big name but is now experiencing what it feels like to be aged out of one's profession, living at home with his mother and limited to spots on daytime infomercials in order to not just keep his name out there but to also pay for the body enhancements of his young-enough-to-be-his-granddaughter starlet girlfriend.

It all makes for several interesting ideas and diverse characters to follow, and Freville proves at times they can write and write well, but the nuts and bolts of it all don’t seem to be tightened into place, making for a very shaky film filled with too much going on and no clear direction. Its use of colourful language at times isn't really justified, nor is its sexual content with many scenes being uncomfortable, with that intention to be fair, but often don’t do enough to be able to bring it back around and justify themselves.

There is a lot of meandering, with the audience left waiting too long between the film’s moments of sharper writing to keep us invested, which again stems from too many ideas being tried at once. But where the film and indeed its writing are ultimately let down is in the performances, which themselves fall into two categories. Yoo and Andrews for the most part breathe a bit of life into their respective characters (Andrews’ Mason in particular, is the most intriguing despite the intended vulgarity of his character) and feel a bit more multi-dimensional, but McGovern and Badolato feel too stiff, under-delivering lines and jokes such that could and should have punched so much harder, with the other supporting players never really making a mark either.

Despite good intentions and ideas, unfortunately for Thirst Trap, there are more things that don’t work here than do, and the result is an overlong film that could have been tighter and benefitted from a bit more focus.