There’s a lot not to like about Jessica (Indira Varma), a smug bachelorette with a thing for married men and a new memoir that’s earning raves. Her book’s title is “The Trouble with Jessica,” which takes on new layers when, early on in the film by the same name, she kills herself during a gathering with her longtime friends.
If my tone here sounds caustic, that’s because the film, a British black comedy directed by Matt Winn, runs on gallows humor. Unfolding almost entirely in a single setting — a stylish London home — that underscores its Pinteresque theatricality, it uses Jessica’s corpse as a comic prop during the mad scramble that ensues after her death.
Before then, the film lays out her friend group’s dynamics, closely tracking the prickly matriarch Sarah (Shirley Henderson) and her guileless husband, Tom (Alan Tudyk). Sarah, more a frenemy to Jessica than a real pal, is peeved when Jessica invites herself to the dinner party she’s hosting — a last hurrah before finalizing the sale of her cherished abode. Joining them is Richard (Rufus Sewell), a louche defense attorney, and his antsy wife Beth (Olivia Williams), who mix up the film’s game of finger-pointing and blackmailing.
Tom and the guests are appalled (and eventually complicit) when Sarah — desperate not to jeopardize the sale — suggests moving Jessica’s body to her own apartment. Impromptu appearances from confused cops and an elite buyer ramp up the pressure, while a cheeky jazz score accentuates the sense of chaos and mischief.
The problem is that Jessica’s death only serves as a mirror through which the four central characters come to terms with their own flaws, which aren’t all that interesting or revelatory. A critique about the hypocrisies of the righteous upper middle class unfolds halfheartedly, leaving us with performances that might’ve worked better in a sketch comedy scene.
The Trouble with Jessica
Not rated. Running time: 1 hour 29 minutes. In theaters.
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