"The Plumber" is a strange movie, dissatisfying, with an out-of-nowhere ending. Watching it, I kept thinking that it was well acted and fairly interesting, but a failure at generating suspense.
Seeing the surprising - though underwhelming - ending makes me wonder if it wasn't supposed to be suspenseful. But then what was it supposed to be?
The movie sort of flirts with psychological thriller and domestic drama, without committing to either.
The plot is familiar to anyone who has seen a psychological thriller before. It reminded me of the also mixed up and bizarre "Cable Guy": every time a young woman is alone in her apartment a weird plumber checks in and gets on her nerves. He is supposed to be repairing her bathroom but is really only making it worse. And he sings in the shower. She starts getting freaked out, her husband dismisses her concerns, and you assume the movie is heading for the moment where the plumber goes into full psycho mode.
I appreciated a take on this material that didn't feel as familiar as the material itself. There were so many thrillers like this in the '80s and '90s. However, in light of the ending, the movie is pretty unsatisfactory, and is definitely a minor blip in Weir's oeuvre.
Seeing the surprising - though underwhelming - ending makes me wonder if it wasn't supposed to be suspenseful. But then what was it supposed to be?
The movie sort of flirts with psychological thriller and domestic drama, without committing to either.
The plot is familiar to anyone who has seen a psychological thriller before. It reminded me of the also mixed up and bizarre "Cable Guy": every time a young woman is alone in her apartment a weird plumber checks in and gets on her nerves. He is supposed to be repairing her bathroom but is really only making it worse. And he sings in the shower. She starts getting freaked out, her husband dismisses her concerns, and you assume the movie is heading for the moment where the plumber goes into full psycho mode.
I appreciated a take on this material that didn't feel as familiar as the material itself. There were so many thrillers like this in the '80s and '90s. However, in light of the ending, the movie is pretty unsatisfactory, and is definitely a minor blip in Weir's oeuvre.