The Last Thing He Wanted

 

The Last Thing He Wanted is thriller adapted from Joan Didion's novel of the same name. Set in 1984 during the during the Reagan/Bush administration; it follows Elena McMahon, a D.C. journalist, played by Anne Hathaway. When Elena’s father falls ill, out of guilt, she is looped into his shady dealings in Central America, causing risk to her life as an unsuspecting source of a story she had been trying to break for multiple years.

Benjamin Lee of The Guardian says it best, this is "a two-hour film packed with too much and somehow not enough, The Last Thing He Wanted is a thing that no one wanted." The script was too rushed so the speed of relationships being developed didn’t make sense. Additionally, the lack of character development made it incomprehensible as to why Elena was in the situation she as in the first place.

The cast was star studded with the likes of Anne Hathaway, Willem Dafoe, Ben Affleck and Rosie Perez. The acting from the entire cast was pretty good given the lack of strong backstories for the characters.

The ending was unpredictable and the editing was interesting but none of that was enough to save this film. I'd recommend skipping this one.