Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.0

Come and Find Me Blu-ray Movie Review

Gone girl.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman January 11, 2017

Gone Girl exploited the literary technique known as the unreliable narrator, a gambit which may not have paid off quite as surprisingly in the film version as it did in the original source novel. While there’s not exactly the same thing going on in Come and Find Me, the disappearance of a young woman is tied to a certain amount of subterfuge, something that is more or less obvious from the early going. David (Aaron Paul) and Claire (Annabelle Wallis) are a couple in Los Angeles who don’t mind playing occasional games to spice up their sex lives (as evidenced by the misleading opening scene), but who seem to be blissfully happy. That happiness disappears along with Claire when David awakens one morning to find his girlfriend has seemingly vanished without a trace. Unlike the plot conceit of Gone Girl, David isn’t suspected of any malfeasance, but the police are spectacularly uninterested in trying to find Claire, leading David to undertake an investigation himself. Unsurprisingly, he slowly but surely comes to realize that Claire is not exactly whom she’s said she is, though he isn’t certain what that might mean. Come and Find Me has some suitably paranoiac moments as it traces David’s increasingly dangerous adventures in trying to track down his love, but the film ultimately succumbs to too much silliness, as well as a denouement that pushes credulity to the breaking point (and maybe significantly beyond).

Note: My personal opinion is few thriller fans are going to be overly surprised by any of the plot mechanics of Come and Find Me, but the following part of the review does contain hints of a few salient plot points, so those wanting to avoid potential spoilers are forewarned.

Though it’s used to different purposes, the same structural artifice which informed Gone Girl is also on display in Zach Whedon’s screenplay (Whedon also directed), namely a ping ponging aspect that contrasts what’s going on “now” with what went down before. In this case the “now” deals with David’s distressing realization that Claire has disappeared, seemingly without a trace, while the “then” documents how the couple met and fell in love. Both time frames have their own share of melodrama, something that, again, Whedon uses as a contrasting device.

The two had a typical “meet cute” courtesy of a shared apartment building, and had gone on to move in with each other. Claire is (supposedly) a globe trotting photographer who doesn’t ever disclose a lot about herself, something that ends up playing into the current time plot dynamics. There are a couple of weird vignettes that unfold during the flashback sequences, including a horrifying moment when it seems Claire has been attacked viciously by a mugger.

The “now” timeline finds David becoming his own Poirot (so to speak), ending up getting involved with (and terrifyingly injured by) a bunch of Russian mobsters, as well as coming into contact with a variety of other nefarious sorts with some kind of tie to Claire's shadowy past. The overly convoluted story has David finding a hidden canister of film which in turn leads to a kind of quasi Blow-Up situation where it turns out the shots may have more information in them than David bargained on. Without posting any spoilers, the appearance of a seemingly needless supporting character relatively early in these shenanigans may well set off suspicions for those who wonder why exactly this particular character has shown up. One way or the other it becomes more than apparent that Claire was leading some kind of secret life, though what that is Whedon pretends to obfuscate, while anyone with half a brain will be able to at least get in the general ballpark of what’s going on.

Whedon has a fine ear for detail in some of the individual interchanges between characters, but an overly broad approach toward the subject matter doesn’t ever provide any ambiguity as to what’s going on. Therefore, when a Moishe the Explainer sort named John Hall (Garret Dillahunt) shows up to supposedly let David know what’s really going on, probably only the most naive viewer is going to fall for it (and by this point in the story, David is at least not naive). Come and Find Me has a tendency to put David in harm’s way a few times too many, which may lead some cynics to wonder whether the character has a subliminal masochistic streak, considering the various pummelings and other indignities he’s forced to suffer through.

Despite these misgivings, Come and Find Me actually generates some anxiety and excitement up to its last few moments. But at what is probably the high point of the tension, when David becomes a victim of “enhanced interrogation techniques”, the film just goes completely looney tunes with a predictable denouement that is both outlandish and nonsensical. Suffice it to say that if the title indicates a character urging someone on to a hunt, why would that character suddenly show up out of the blue after so much previous trauma had been inflicted? The obvious answer is in order to give the film an action set piece to get to the end credits with.

Come and Find Me Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Come and Find Me is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Lionsgate Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.39:1. The IMDb lists this as having been shot with Arri Alexa cameras, and this is certainly a competent if never visually overwhelming presentation. Commendably, there's little if any overt color grading going on, and the film plays out in relatively naturalistic lighting environments, with some obvious exceptions like a darkroom which is swathed in red tones. Whedon and DP Sean Stiegemeier often favor framings where out of focus objects are in the foreground, with the focal (in both senses of the word) subject further back, something that occasionally can offer the perception of softness. In less "arty" framings, detail levels are uniformly high, with elements like the wounds David accrues looking commendably realistic. While housed on a BD-25, the film is not overly lengthy and there aren't a boatload of supplements, leaving bitrates at decent levels and with compression looking fine.

Come and Find Me Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Come and Find Me features a nice sounding DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track, one that derives good intensity from things like the low rumble of machinery in the garage David visits at one point, or in more subtle effects like echoing footsteps in an empty apartment room. Nate Walcott's evocative score also spreads through the surrounds quite winningly. Dialogue is presented without any problems and with good prioritization.

Come and Find Me Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Filmmaker Commentary features Zach Whedon and Chris Ferguson.


• Unraveling the Mysteries of Come and Find Me (1080p; 6:54) is a standard issue EPK with some okay interviews.

Come and Find Me Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

I'm an inveterate "predictor" when it comes to films like this, and I have to say I had the ins and outs of this story figured out fairly early in the going, but the good news is despite having a good idea of where things were headed, I was still engaged by Paul's increasingly desperate performance as David, as well as the increasingly paranoiac aspects to the tale once at least hints about Claire's past started getting dropped. The film is generally well paced, and as noted above Whedon delivers some excellent dialogue. The major problem here is things are both overly convoluted and also ultimately too simplistic to ever work up much energy. A needlessly silly last few minutes don't help matters, coming off as a kind of unwitting homage to another Whedon's offerings of gorgeous blondes who kick serious butt. Technical merits are strong, and for fans of the cast (especially Aaron Paul) and those willing to cut a first time director a little slack, Come and Find Me comes Recommended.