THE EXIT STATE

The Exit State is a dystopian political thriller set in the not-so-distant future. America has fallen into authoritarian rule, and refugees hope to make it to Mexico to flee an oppressive government. The movie follows a group of refugees who stay at a bed and breakfast as a last stop before the border, but in such a perilous world, be careful who you trust.

The movie stars Callie Schuttera as Claire and Josh George  as Vince. Besides starring in the movie, George and Schuttera co-wrote the script with director Gabriela Ledesma. Vince and Claire are siblings who run the bed and breakfast for refugees and work with the drivers, in this case Rome (Jeremy D. Howard). On the surface, it seems like Vince and Claire are doing something great for humanity and assisting refugees, but when people go missing one by one, well, Rome and the others start to have some suspicions.

Among the refugees, Andrew (Clayton Farris), Jordan (Nikki Dixon), Tori (Stakiah Lynn Washington), and journalist Zoey (Cindy Nguyen), only Zoey is given much character depth, but it’s mostly in the context of Vince, in that they were high school sweethearts and Vince wants her to stay. This is one of the main problems with the film. None of the characters are given much exploration. We know little to nothing about what they did prior to the United States’ dissolution into fascism. And everything we learn about Zoey is mostly through her relationship with Vince. Additionally, while Vince and Claire have some funny sibling banter, we also don’t know why they do the horrible things that they do. Are they getting some fat paycheck from the state? A little explanation is given near the end of the movie, but not quite enough to justify the silly plot.

Further, the circumstances the movie operates in are given no explanation. It’s unclear how or why the U.S. collapsed into its current state, and nearly all of the movie is set at Vince and Claire’s fancy home. The movie does little to nothing to explain its dystopian setting or what roles Vince and Claire actually play in it and how they landed such a sick and twisted gig in the first place. Additionally, this movie isn’t like a typical dystopian narrative. There’s more humor in this, even for a political thriller. This is largely due to the sibling relationship between Vince and Claire and the ways they often poke fun at each other. While the humor may not work for everyone, it does provide levity against what’s an otherwise bleak scenario with a mighty grim ending, too.

The Exit State suffers mostly because of its flat and weak characterization. It’s hard to care about the fate of refugees when you know little to nothing about them. There was certainly potential here, but the script needed a few more edits.