The doctor with a G-d complex is a frequently traveled trope in the drama and thriller milieus. When your fertility doctor, Dr. Hindle, is played by a former 007 in Pierce Brosnan, one keenly is aware of his thespian gifts that will bring layers to his medical professional character. In False Positive, Dr. Hindle is one of the best in the world. Immediately though, there is something afoot with the good doctor.
Casting such a talented actor pays off in countless ways, not the least of which includes that not-so-easy task of informing patients of dreams achieved or dreams dashed.
Lucy (Ilana Glazer, Broad City and Rough Night) has been reluctant to go see a willing to try everything doc like Dr. Hindle, but after two years of attempting to get pregnant, she and her husband Adrian (Justin Theroux) finally decide to seek out the latter’s former Med School teacher and mentor, Hindle. To their delight, close to the beginning of their time with Dr. Hindle, Lucy becomes pregnant (with triplets!).
The couple is over the moon, at least until they’re informed that they must choose between the twin boys or the single girl. She cannot have both. The health of the babies and their mother are at stake. Lucy and Adrian discuss it and decide on the girl—after all, they’ve already got a name picked out. Call it Mommy Brain, as they do repeatedly in the John Lee’s film, or whatever it is, but Lucy doesn’t trust Dr. Hindle and worse still, she believes her husband is in on it.
One gets a Stepford Wives feel from the nursing staff and Hindle’s office in general, which is slightly off-putting to put it lightly. Thing is, there is also a feel of Rosemary’s Baby that is shared with False Positive in that a woman is certain that something is off with the life that is growing inside her while everyone around her thinks she may be just a little crazy. You know, “mommy brain.”
The thing is about this Hulu original film is that it may possess similar features as some classics—even an unmistakable Alfred Hitchcock sentiment that is pervasive throughout—yet one would never witness it and be left with anything but a feeling of being exceptionally original. Director Lee has woven a web that has you guessing what on earth is going on incorrectly until just before the conclusion. Must tip the cap to the helmer because one feels that there is a monster at work somewhere and a patient’s best interest may be the furthest from their motivation.
I treasure films where the main protagonist is convinced there something is askew while everyone around him or her kind of pats her on the back and says, “there, there.” Then it gets worse, and the audience and our main character know what’s going on, yet even those closest to her believe that she might need to be committed. For this writer, that is a nightmare scenario and films that play off of that sentiment are not only thrillers in my book, but drift into horror. The key to this working or not doesn’t necessarily ride on Theroux’s shoulders, it is firmly planted on Glazer’s.
The actress is a find. She extols so much, simply from her facial expressions or lack of them. For a woman who is trying to get pregnant after roadblock after roadblock, there is a blissful beauty to finally learning that you will be a mother after all. Glazer could have gone off the deep end. Instead, she paints a picture of a soul whose life’s greatest moment is tainted by a mystery with horrific aspirations. Witnessing Glazer grapple with these life bombs is a talent announcement from the wife who may have “baby brain,” but she’s not wrong. One bit.
Theroux strikes a perfect pitch with just the right touch of supportive husband meets mysterious. The Spy Who Dumped Me star inhabits Adrian playing both sides of the coin in such a manner that is equal parts endearing and alarming. If anything, the Washington, D.C. native isn’t given enough to do that is worthy of his deep talent. It’s almost in scenes with Bronson he defers to the master and in his onscreen moments with Glazer, the story centralizes on her… so he naturally takes a back seat. He’s such a screen presence that one hoped for a little more jamming Justin than what is delivered in Lee and Glazer’s co-written script.
There’s a classic is it real or is it in my head feeling that is hard to shake. Glazer not only announces her talent proficiency as an actress but also as a screenwriter. Being intimately involved in the creation of this baby from the very beginning (pun intended), one can see how Glazer got so much out of the role and it is truly a gift to the viewer.
Brosnan is on a roll of late. He stole every scene he was in with The Misfits (out last week), but his Grey Fox, a miracle-making man in False Positive is exactly what keeps us guessing throughout. The former Bond emits a sense of paternal care that is impossible to resist. Yet he does things that are unethical, to say the least. But, as he says, you wanted to get pregnant. You’re pregnant. It would have been easy for the Irish actor to chew the scenery with the role, as they say. But he’s a veteran and knows one can get so much with so little. He possesses a smile that will sear your soul, yet one wonders what exactly he’s doing with these women that makes him so successful.
The supporting cast, including Sophia Bush as Corgan, a friend of Lucy’s, is solid, but not necessarily great. They can only do so much with what they are given and sadly it is not much. After all, this is a three-person narrative, everything else is window dressing. Sometimes, that’s OK. In False Positive, it is exactly that.
You have to adore a film that keeps you guessing until the final moments. It seems harder and harder of late to find films that can achieve that level of mystery without advertising its events a mile away. There are just enough cryptic aspects of False Positive that will have one piercingly looking back on everything that occurred as the credits roll to see if what you think happened actually transpired.
Grade: B