click and collect movie review

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Click and Collect review: Stephen Merchant and Asim Chaudhry delight in Christmas crowd-pleaser

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Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Jingle All The Way receives a modern, distinctly British retelling in BBC’s Click & Collect, which overcomes its clear influences through charming performances.

The premise of Click & Collect is classic Christmas fodder. Two mismatched neighbours Andrew and Dev, played by Stephen Merchant and People Just Do Nothing’s Asim Chaudhry, are banded together on Christmas Eve in pursuit of the hot Christmas item of the season –namely a ‘plastic unicorn’.

After Andrew refuses to pay a hiked-up price to collect his reserved ‘Sparklehoof’, Dev manages to secure another online in a gesture of neighbourly goodwill. The one problem? The store is a four hour drive away in Carlisle. After some comical wrangling, the only solution is for the pair to put aside their differences for a road trip to save his daughter’s Christmas.

From there, it’s pretty obvious how events will pan out – but Click & Collect does an admirable job of keeping the journey to the destination surprising. Mishaps escalate from getting trapped in floods out in the woods to barrelling down roads in transport buggies, which are sold by convincing, likeable performances from both Merchant and Chaudhry.

While the show skips along with infectious enthusiasm, there’s surprising moments where the tone takes a serious turn. As the chase for the prized unicorn morphs into a cat-and-mouse hunt for a service station worker, they find their thief is similarly hoping to bring a smile to her daughter’s face after suffering in hospital. It’s unexpected and strikes a welcome, poignant note between the light-hearted comedy.

It’s clear the main duo are having a ball too. Merchant dials up his aggravated disgruntled middle-aged man routine to a fine art, dropping Brexit jokes and cynical cut-downs to extort laughs from the token Grinch. Chaudhry, meanwhile, takes the natural course from irritatingly vibrant neighbour to having a sympathetic, misunderstood circumstances for his enthusiasm.

The show culminates by delivering arguably the best reason The One Show has ever had to exist. Beyond the hilarious post-credits sequence, however, Click & Collect is comforting, sharply written Christmas TV which is the perfect way to ease into festivities. Make sure you reserve your seat.

Click & Collect airs Christmas Eve BBC One at 9pm.

MORE : The One Show hosts seriously unimpressed as Stephen Merchant makes awkward porn joke in front of kids choir

MORE : Christmas TV guide 2018 – what’s on Christmas Eve, Day and Boxing Day?

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Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Click & Collect’ On BritBox, Where Stephen Merchant And Asim Chaudhry Cross The UK To Get A Toy On Christmas Eve

Where to Stream:

• Click & Collect

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Would you expect Stephen Merchant, who along with Ricky Gervais brought us The Office and Extras, to star in a wholesome holiday special? And if he did, what would that look like? BBC One and BritBox viewers will get a chance to find out on Christmas Eve, when Click & Collect debuts. Can a wholesome holiday flick be funny in this day and age?

CLICK & COLLECT : STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

The Gist: Andrew Bennett ( Stephen Merchant ) is standing on line at a busy toy store on Christmas Eve to get Sparklehoof the Unicorn Princess, the hottest toy of the season and the one thing his daughter wants for Christmas. Andrew’s wife Claire (Sophia Di Martino) has reserved one, but when he goes to claim it, he finds the store jacked up the price by 20 quid. In a loud huff, he refuses to pay the extortion prices and leaves.

At home, he notices that his very eager neighbor Dev D’Cruz (Asim Chaudhry) has expanded the garish lights on his house over to Andrew’s, and he just can’t confront the ingratiating Dev to tell him that he doesn’t want those lights on… at all. Instead, he writes a strongly-worded note; Claire tells him to just talk to Dev directly. Andrew pretends he got a complaint call from the village council and pulls the plug. For his part, Dev is overdoing Christmas a bit because this is the first one since his divorce and his sons will be with their mother for the holidays.

Andrew is content giving his daughter a science kit, but Claire says she’ll be heartbroken if she doesn’t get Sparklehoof. Enter Dev; he did a click and collect to get what seems to be the last Sparklehoof in the entire UK; trouble is, it’s four-and-a-half hours away. Because the toy is on his card, he insists on going with Andrew. Suffice to say, a lot of mishaps and hilarity ensue on the trip, including the sight of the tall, lanky Andrew in an elf outfit. But they also learn a lot more about each other in the process.

What Movies Will It Remind You Of?: Planes, Trains & Automobiles crossed with Jingle All The Way .

Performance Worth Watching: It’s a tie between Merchant, who does his usual job of being a gangly, snarky grouch who mutters funny lines under his breath, and Chaudhury, who plays Dev’s earnestness as more endearing than annoying.

Memorable Dialogue: When they encounter a homeless man outside a rest stop, Andrew and Dev argue the difference between “spare change” and “loose change”.

Single Best Shot: Dev opens a bottle of soda in the car, which sprays all over the windshield. He turns on the wipers, and Andrew goes, “that’s on the outside.”

Sex and Skin: Nothing. You can watch this with your grandma.

Our Take: There’s nothing about Click & Collect , written by Joe Tucker and Lloyd Woolf, that’s new. It’s a pretty wholesome holiday comedy special where two people go on a road trip. The grouchy guy, in this case Andrew, softens and learns to love his annoying neighbor (Dev), and we find out why Dev is as annoying as he is. There are beats where they’re sidelined, and they rally to recover; there’s a disagreement that almost derails the friendship they’ve built.

Stephen Merchant Wanted To Do 'Click & Collect' To Have A Christmas Special He Could Watch With His Family

There are a couple of moments, not spoiled here, that subvert the feelgood holiday conventions a bit, and there are a few improvisations between Merchant and Chaudhury that made it into the final cut, making the movie even more enjoyable.

Our Call: STREAM IT. It’s a fun movie, even if it’s a little predictable.

Joel Keller ( @joelkeller ) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, VanityFair.com, Playboy.com, Fast Company’s Co.Create and elsewhere.

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Where to watch

Click & collect.

Directed by Ben Palmer

To save his daughter's Christmas, Andrew goes on a road trip with Dev, his neighbour from hell, to buy an elusive Sparklehoof the Unicorn Princess.

Asim Chaudhry Stephen Merchant Sophia di Martino Sophie Willan Darcey Ewart Emily Aston Tala Gouveia Daniel Hoffmann-Gill Alex Jones Matt Baker Jason Barnett Grant McIntyre Steven Wickham Lloyd Woolf

Director Director

Writers writers.

Lloyd Woolf Joe Tucker

Editor Editor

Mark Henson

Cinematography Cinematography

John Sorapure

Assistant Directors Asst. Directors

Claire Grossmith Liz Summers

BBC Studios Mondo Deluxe BBC

Releases by Date

24 dec 2018, releases by country.

• TV 12 BBC One

53 mins   More at IMDb TMDb Report this page

Popular reviews

Review by Sam ★★★★ 3

The Sparklehoof was a shit toy but I respect the hustle.

Review by alex ★★★

seriously though how the FUCK was that unicorn worth £65

Review by 𝔐𝔞𝔱𝔱𝔥𝔢𝔴 ★★★ 1

Tbf I would do the same to get an IKEA Djungelskög bear

Review by eleanor <3 ★★★

imagine she prefered the chemistry set after all of that

Review by amelie ☆ ★★★★★

but you don’t get it it’s the LAST one in the UK, and it’s ALLLLLL the way in CARLISLE. and they’ve come from Bedford!!!

Review by kieran ★½ 5

eyes that pop out of their head... steve

Review by EccyReviews ★★★ 2

I had a an hour spare till, im a celebrity get me out of here was on

Review by Paul Fleming ★★★★

"It was a little bit like that Arnold Schwarzenegger film."

"Jingle All The Way?"

"No, Terminator 2."

BBC 1's big 9pm comedy for Christmas Eve got the spirit of Christmas just right. I caught the end of it the night before Christmas and decided to catch up with it two weeks later. Even two weeks out of season there were a couple of beats in this that brought a genuine tear to my eye. I like Christmas, ok!

Clearly a mix of Jingle All The Way and Planes, Trains and Automobiles but it doesn't matter as it is carried brilliantly by two of the UK's best comic talents in Stephen Merchant and Asim Chaudhry. The two make a brilliant modern…

Review by Louis ★★★

This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.

Very cliché and safe Christmas comedy. Did laugh at a couple parts 

But more importantly: 

Why didn’t the burger place lady just get the unicorn from the claw machine at her work? Probably easier than committing credit card fraud and driving to Carlisle.

Review by Lauren ★★★★½ 1

imma have to watch this again in like 2 years when i’ve forgotten all the jokes and can laugh just as much as i just did 

a new british classic imo

Review by kristina ★★★½

never have I related to something more than the claw machine montage

Review by Mark Cunliffe 🇵🇸 ★★★½ 2

"Brown Santa's gonna save Christmas!"

Although clearly a blatant mix of Planes, Trains and Automobiles and Jingle All The Way (the latter is even referenced in the closing credits sequence; a funny exchange that sees the characters being interviewed by The One Show's Matt Baker and Alex Jones) this chalk-and-cheese, road trip from hell, Christmas miracle comedy is a welcome one, boosted by the sheer charm and comic chops of its leading men, Stephen Merchant and Asim Chaudhry.

A fun watch for Christmas Eve.

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Click & Collect

Where to Watch

Stephen Merchant (Andrew Bennett) Asim Chaudhry (Dev D'Cruz) Sophia Di Martino (Claire) Emily Aston (Burger Bar Worker) Matt Baker (Self) Jason Barnett (Nearby Man) Darcey Ewart (Emily) Matilda Gill (Jessie's Daughter) Tala Gouveia (Toy Shop Assistant) Daniel Hoffmann-Gill (Maintenance Man)

Two mismatched neighbours drive across the country to pick up the one toy that will make a little girl's Christmas dreams come true.

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DVDfever.co.uk

New DVDs & Blu-ray releases, Movie, TV & Gaming Reviews!

Click And Collect – The DVDfever Review – Stephen Merchant

Instead of Arnie tracking down the last Turbo Man, Stephen Merchant is looking for the last Sparklehoof the Unicorn Princess. As it began, I was expecting that, like King Gary, it was going to be more Christmas TV filler which would make you suddenly remember that you’d rather cut your toenails.

There is a good bit, but that’s only really with the opening altercation in a local store where Andrew (Merchant) gets the chance to buy the unicorn toy, but he objects to the fact they’ve hiked the price by £20 just because of the time of year.

Amazon.co.uk Widgets

Annoying neighbour Dev ( Asim Chaudhry , from the unfunny People Just No Nothing ) whacks up a ton of lights all over Andrew’s house without his permission, and circumstances lead to Andrew having no choice but to spend nine hours in a car with Dev to capture the final Sparklehoof.

Merchant is, surprisingly, not the most irritating thing about this and, at times, isn’t too bad. Alas, like his character Dev, Chaudhry IS the most irritating thing, especially since he talks too much along the journey where everything that can go wrong DOES go wrong. Plus, a lot of the situations that happen are ones we’ve seen before, and it all gets mixed up in a syrupy-sweet Christmassy message… making this a mix of Jingle All The Way and… Planes, Trains and Automobiles .

So, this could’ve been better without the schmaltz. And with some originality.

Click And Collect is not coming out on Blu-ray or DVD at this point, but you can watch it on the BBC iPlayer for 30 days after transmission.

Click And Collect – Trailer – BBC One

Score: 2/10

Director: Ben Palmer Producer: Sam Ward Writers: Joe Tucker, Lloyd Woolf

Andrew: Stephen Merchant Dev: Asim Chaudhry Claire: Sophia Di Martino Burger Bar Worker: Emily Aston Nearby Man: Jason Barnett Toy Shop Assistant: Tala Gouveia Maintenance Man: Daniel Hoffman-Gill Superstore Assistant: Grant McIntyre Homeless Man: Steven Wickham Jessie: Sophie Willan Man at Table: Lloyd Woolf Emily: Darcey Ewart Herself: Alex Jones Himself: Matt Baker

Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.

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Emily Aston Burger Bar Worker

Jason Barnett Nearby Man

Asim Chaudhry Dev

Sophia Di Martino Claire

Tala Gouveia Toy Shop Assistant

Grant McIntyre Superstore Assistant

Stephen Merchant Andrew

Daniel Hoffmann-Gill Maintenance Man

Steven Wickham Homeless Man

Sophie Willan Jessie

Lloyd Woolf Man at Table

Darcey Ewart Emily

Daniel Hoffman-Gill Maintenance Man

Ben Palmer Director

Sam Ward Producer

Joe Tucker Writer

Lloyd Woolf Writer

Click and Collect

To save his daughter's Christmas, Andrew (Stephen Merchant) goes on a road trip with Dev (Asim Chaudhry), his neighbour from hell, to buy an elusive Sparklehoof the Unicorn Princess.

• Year: 2018 Duration: 53 min Credits: Emily Aston, Jason Barnett, Asim Chaudhry... more

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To save his daughter's Christmas, Andrew goes on a road trip with Dev, his neighbour from hell, to buy an elusive Sparklehoof the Unicorn Princess.

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Click and Collect

Stephen Merchant and Asim Chaudhry star in this moving comedy. Two sparring neighbours drive across the UK to pick up a toy that will make a child's Christmas dreams come true.

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Contains strong language. Turn on Parental controls

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Scrooge was granted visions of Christmas Past and Christmas Future, and reformed his life. What happens to Adam Sandler in "Click" is like what happened to Scrooge, except with a lot more Christmases. He needs more than one lesson and he gets more than one lesson. Way more.

In " Being There ," the hero Chance has spent all of his life watching television. When he wanders out to freedom and is threatened on the street, he clicks a TV remote control to get another channel. In "Click," Sandler plays Michael, an architect who is given a universal remote that's truly Universal. With it, he can take control of his life: freeze a scene, fast-forward, reverse, mute the sound, select the chapters of his choice and even witness his parents at the moment of his conception (that's, of course, in the "Making of" documentary).

The movie is being sold as a comedy, but you know what? This isn't funny. Yes, there are some laughs, as when he finds he can turn the dog's barking up and down, or play around with the settings for hue and contrast, or when he discovers the picture-in-picture feature that allows him to watch the ballgame no matter what else is going on around him. But the movie essentially involves a workaholic who uses the universal remote to skip over all the bad stuff in his life and discovers in the process that he is missing life itself. Take away the gimmick of the universal remote, and this is what a lot of us do, and it's sad.

It's not just sad, it's brutal. There's an undercurrent of cold, detached cruelty in the way Michael uses the magical device. He turns off the volume during an argument with his wife. He fast-forwards through a boring family dinner, and later through foreplay. He skips ahead to avoid a bad cold. He jumps to the chapter where he gets a promotion. Eventually, he realizes the family dog has died and been replaced by another, his kids have grown up, his wife is married to someone else, and he weighs 400 pounds. It happened while he wasn't paying attention.

Like many other Sandler movies, this one lingers studiously over bodily functions. After losing enormous amount of weight, for example, Michael plays with a big flap of loose skin around his stomach, plopping it up and down long after any possible audience curiosity has been satisfied. During an argument with his boss ( David Hasselhoff ), he freeze-frames the boss, jumps on his desk and farts. When he puts his boss back on "play," the boss inexplicably decides his secretary has put feces in his salad. Anyone who can't tell poop from lettuce doesn't deserve to be a senior partner. They teach you that in business school.

Michael is surrounded by patient and saintly people. His wife, Donna ( Kate Beckinsale ), loves him but despairs of reaching him. She has that standard wifely role of complaining when he has to work late and can't be at the swimming meet/Fourth of July party, etc. Michael's parents ( Henry Winkler and Julie Kavner ) are sweet and loving but kvetch too much and talk too slowly, so Michael zaps right through the time he has remaining with them.

I am not sure if this story device could possibly have been made funny. It could have been elevated into a metaphysical adventure, as in " Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind ," or made to generate a series of paradoxes, as in " Being John Malkovich ," but "Click" stays resolutely at Level 1 -- the tiresome explication of the basic premise. Once we get the idea, there are no more surprises, only variations on the first one.

The movie does have some wit about its product placement. The plot is set in motion when Michael goes out late at night to buy a universal remote and only one store is open: Bed, Bath and Beyond. As a retail store name, this has always reminded me of the final subtitle in Kubrick's "2001," which was "Jupiter and Beyond the Infinite." Beyond the infinite. That's a fair piece. In the store Michael enters, Bed and Bath are easy to find, but Beyond is behind a mysterious door at the end of a very long corridor, where a man named Morty ( Christopher Walken ) makes him a gift of the universal remote. If they make "Click 2," I want it to be about Morty.

Roger Ebert

Roger Ebert was the film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, he won the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism.

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Film credits.

Click (2006)

Rated PG-13 for language, crude and sex related humor and some drug references

107 minutes

Adam Sandler as Michael Newman

Christopher Walken as Morty

Kate Beckinsale as Donna Newman

David Hasselhoff as Mr. Ammer

Sean Astin as Bill

Rachel Dratch as Alice/Alan

Henry Winkler as Ted Newman

Julie Kavner as Trudy Newman

Directed by

• Frank Coraci
• Steve Koren
• Mark O'Keefe

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Click & Collect

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• Decider Joel Keller It's a fun movie, even if it's a little predictable.

Take Plex everywhere

How private equity rolled Red Lobster

Angry that your favorite Red Lobster closed down? Wall Street wizardry had a lot to do with it.

Red Lobster was America’s largest casual dining operation, serving 64 million customers a year in almost 600 locations across 44 states and Canada. Its May 19 bankruptcy filing and closing of almost 100 locations across the country has devastated its legion of fans and 36,000 workers. The chain is iconic enough to be featured in a Beyoncé song.

Assigning blame for company failures is tricky. But some analysts say the root of Red Lobster’s woes was not the endless shrimp promotions that some have blamed. Yes, the company lost $11 million from the shrimp escapade, its bankruptcy filing shows, and suffered from inflation and higher labor costs. But a bigger culprit in the company’s problems is a financing technique favored by a powerful force in the financial industry known as private equity.

The technique, colloquially known as asset-stripping, has been a part of retail chain failures such as Sears, Mervyn’s and ShopKo as well as bankruptcies involving hospital and nursing home operations like Steward Healthcare and Manor Care. All had been owned by private equity.

Asset-stripping occurs when an owner or investor in a company sells off some of its assets, taking the benefits for itself and hobbling the company. This practice is favored among some private-equity firms that buy companies, load them with debt to finance the purchases and hope to sell them at a profit in a few years to someone else. A common form of asset-stripping is known as a sale/leaseback and involves selling a company’s real estate; this type of transaction hobbled Red Lobster.

In recent years, private-equity firms have invested heavily in all areas of industry, including retailers, restaurants, media and health care. Some 12 million workers are employed by private equity-backed firms, or 7% of the workforce. Companies bought out and indebted by private equity go bankrupt 10 times more often than companies not purchased by these firms, academic research  shows . In a  report  this month, Moody’s Ratings said leveraged buyouts like those pursued by many private-equity firms drive corporate defaults higher and reduce the amounts investors recover when the companies are restructured.

The sale/leaseback that helped sink Red Lobster involved the July 2014 sale of premium real estate underneath 500 of its stores, which generated $1.5 billion. But that money didn’t go back into Red Lobster; it went instead to the private-equity firm to finance its purchase of the chain, Red Lobster's press release said . That firm was San Francisco-based Golden Gate Capital, with $10 billion in assets.

Golden Gate had paid $2.1 billion to buy Red Lobster in May 2014, so the real estate sale was crucial to the firm’s financing. “Red Lobster is an exceptionally strong brand with an unparalleled market position in seafood casual dining,” Josh Olshansky, managing director at Golden Gate, said at the time, a press release announcing the deal  shows .

The $1.5 billion sale crippled Red Lobster. After the real estate was sold, Red Lobster had to pay rent on stores it had previously owned, significantly increasing its costs. According to the bankruptcy filing, by 2023 its rents totaled $200 million a year or approximately 10% of its revenues.

Asked about the negative impact the sale/leaseback had on Red Lobster, a Golden Gate spokeswoman declined to comment.

The company that bought the properties, American Realty Capital Partners, got a very good deal, the press release announcing the sale/leaseback said. It characterized the Red Lobster stores it had purchased as “irreplaceable locations” and “high-quality real estate located at main intersections in strong markets,” but noted the properties were sold “at below replacement cost.” Under the terms of the sale, Red Lobster would also see regular rent increases of 2% a year, the release noted.

American Realty Capital Partners was acquired by Realty Income in 2021. Realty Income did not respond to a request for comment on the sale/leaseback.

The sale of the Red Lobster stores hurt the company several ways. First, it meant the chain would not benefit from any upside in the commercial real estate market. In addition, the new owner of the real estate did not appear to give Red Lobster good deals on rents. As Red Lobster’s CEO noted in a bankruptcy court filing, “A material portion of the Company’s leases are priced above market rates.”

As is typical in private-equity buyouts, Golden Gate’s purchase of Red Lobster significantly increased the chain’s debt, adding higher interest costs to its burden. In 2017, Moody’s Ratings, an independent ratings agency, downgraded Red Lobster to a negative outlook from stable. Moody’s cited the chain’s “persistently high leverage,” or debt.

“Carrying a lot of debt and not owning your real estate puts companies at a disadvantage,” said Andrew Park, senior policy analyst at  Americans for Financial Reform , a nonprofit and nonpartisan organization advocating for a stable and ethical financial system. “Red Lobster is yet another example of that private-equity playbook of harming restaurants and retailers in the long run.”

In 2020, Golden Gate exited its Red Lobster investment, selling to Thai Union Group, a Bangkok-based company, and an investor group. Thai Union calls itself the “world’s seafood leader” and its brands include Chicken of the Sea tuna products and King Oscar sardines. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Regarding the bankruptcy, a company spokesman provided a statement saying, “Thai Union has a been a supplier to Red Lobster for more than 30 years, and we intend for that relationship to continue. We are confident that a court-supervised process will allow Red Lobster to restructure its financial obligations and realize its long-term potential in a more favorable operating environment.”

Bankruptcies of companies like Red Lobster have a multiplier effect on the overall economy and contribute to a sense of unease among consumers and workers, said Robert  Reich , a former labor secretary under President Bill Clinton.

“One of the reasons people feel so insecure is you’ve got in the background, behind the curtain, a lot of these financial games that ultimately are making the very rich richer, and hurting America’s working and middle class,” Reich said in an interview. “All of the people who were supplying Red Lobster, all of the people who are essentially providing services to Red Lobster, the small businesses in the communities affected by mass layoffs, they are next in line, they are experiencing the ripple effect.”

Red Lobster’s employees are bearing the brunt of the collapse. Austin Hurst is one, a former grill master at a Red Lobster in Arizona. In an interview, he said he learned from a friend his store had closed and has not heard from his manager or any higher-ups at the company. He said he was told his store had been profitable until about 3 months ago.

“About a month before the close, the district manager came in and was like, ‘Yeah, this Red Lobster is looking really bright. And you guys are going to stay open for sure,’” Hurst recalled. 

Hurst said he was offered a job at another Red Lobster location but it requires a longer commute and pays $17 an hour, down from the $19 he was making before. 

Sen. Edward Markey, a Democrat from Massachusetts, where eight hospitals operated by bankrupt Steward Health Care are, recently held hearings on private equity and health care. He has also proposed legislation that would require greater transparency from health care entities owned by private-equity firms, including the disclosure of sale/leaseback arrangements as well as fees collected by the private-equity firm, and dividends paid by the health care entity to the private-equity fund.

“My legislation is quite simple,” Markey said in an interview. “To make sure that these financial shenanigans don’t have a profound impact upon communities across our country, the Department of Health and Human Services has to determine whether or not the sale of the land underneath these hospitals and then having that land rented back to the hospitals isn’t having a negative impact on the provision of health care in that community.”

Private equity is emerging in all parts of our economy, Markey added, but its most profound impact is in health care. “The more private equity gets into the hospital business,” he said, “the more this is just a preview of coming atrocities affecting our health care system.”

Gretchen Morgenson is the senior financial reporter for the NBC News Investigative Unit. A former stockbroker, she won the Pulitzer Prize in 2002 for her "trenchant and incisive" reporting on Wall Street.

‘In a Violent Nature’ Is Sick, Unsettling, and Once-in-a-Generation Slasher Flick

• By David Fear

Imagine the Dardenne brothers got very high one night on some primo hash, then directed a slasher flick.

It starts, as so many great, grisly excursions into the underbelly of cinema do, with dumbass youngsters and a curse. Traipsing around in a forest, two guys come across a graveyard. One of them pockets a locket he finds hanging on a stick. Seconds after they walk off, someone, or perhaps some thing, rises from beneath the earth. Courtesy of a clever riff on the ol’ campfire ghost-story chestnut — and an extremely clunky bit of magic-mirror flashback exposition — we eventually find out that this freshly awakened corpse is named Johnny (Ry Barrett). Once upon a time, he was a “slow kid” who became the victim of a prank gone very wrong. Cut to a week later, and those bullies and most of a nearby lumberjack camp have been mysteriously slaughtered. As for the locket, it belonged to Johnny’s mother, and was the only thing that kept his soul at rest. Remove that jewelry and, well …you can guess what comes next.

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Already infamous, uniquely conceived, capable of causing guffaws and barfing in equal measure, In a Violent Nature ‘s extraordinary, pièce de résistance isn’t the first onscreen death we witness in all of its gory glory. (A shout-out to the gentleman who loses half his cranium, which is then used to bust into a museum so Johnny can procure old-school firefighter’s mask and weaponry. Waste not, want not!) It’s the one you’ll remember, though. A young woman (Charlotte Creaghan) is doing yoga on a cliffside perch, taking in the picturesque scenery. Johnny approaches. She screams. Turning to run, she realizes she has nowhere to go but down a 100-foot drop. Johnny punches his hand through her stomach, plunges a chained hook into her head… and pulls until she’s formed the equivalent of an uppercase letter P. Horror nerds, you may begin your Rudy-clapping . Apologies to everyone else if you just got sick on your phone or laptop.

There’s nothing “elevated” about that moment, and the fact that In a Violent Nature sets up a storytelling style that utilizes highbrow aesthetics while still keeping one foot firmly planted in the genre gutter is what makes this feel like a once-in-generation slasher flick. Some may grouse that it concludes not with a big bang but a quiet whimper, yet even that’s a purposeful feint and parry away from what we’ve been led to expect from the usual final-girl conclusions. There’s closure, certainly, but also a palpable sense of unending dread — as if the walking dead never really, truly come to a standstill. As for the creators of this grotty, surprisingly graceful horror movie, let’s hope they don’t stop doing what they do, either.

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Chinese EV makers, and their connected vehicles, targeted by new House bill

Chinese EV manufacturers face a new challenge in their pursuit of U.S. customers: a new House bill that would limit or ban the introduction of their connected vehicles .

The bill, introduced by U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin, comes as the trade war between the U.S. and China heightens in the aftermath of the Biden administration’s decision to quadruple import duties on Chinese electric vehicles to 100%. 

Chinese EV manufacturers haven’t yet made significant inroads into the U.S., as they have in Europe. The bill’s goal appears to curb manufacturers before they can flood the American market with smart, cheap cars. 

Slotkin, a former CIA analyst and Pentagon official, has repeatedly warned Congress about the threat posed by Chinese-built connected vehicles. Earlier this month in a speech on the House floor , Slotkin outlined how the Chinese government has heavily subsidized its auto industry to sell advanced, low-cost EVs equipped with sensors like lidar, radar and cameras that are capable of collecting and transmitting data back to Chinese authorities. 

“If allowed into our markets, Chinese connected vehicles offer the Chinese government a treasure trove of valuable intelligence on the United States, including the potential to collect information on our military bases, critical infrastructure like the power grid and traffic systems, and even locate specific U.S. leaders should they so choose,” said Slotkin in a statement released Wednesday. “China owns a fast-growing share of the connected auto market in Europe and Mexico, so now is the time to make sure our defenses are up, before these vehicles enter the U.S. market.”

Last week, provisions that Slotkin championed — like a ban on Chinese connected vehicles at U.S. military bases and a prohibition on procuring Chinese-made lidar by the Department of Defense — made it into the U.S. government’s annual defense spending bill . 

Slotkin’s bill, called the Connected Vehicle National Security Review Act, if passed into law, wouldn’t just review EVs but also autonomous vehicles. A number of AV companies with ties to China, like WeRide and Pony.ai, have active permits to test in California. Alphabet’s Waymo also has a deal with Chinese startup Zeekr to produce purpose-built robotaxis. 

Waymo did not respond to TechCrunch’s request for comment on this bill.

How this bill will affect Chinese EVs

As far as EVs go, Volvo and Polestar have a presence in the United States, and both are owned by China’s Geely Automotive. The majority of Volvo vehicles are assembled in Sweden, and the next generation of Volvo vehicles for the North American market will be built in a recently opened plant in Ridgeville, South Carolina. 

A Polestar spokesperson assured TechCrunch that it doesn’t share personal data from North American and European customers with China, and that as the automaker is headquartered in Sweden, it’s required to comply with GDPR laws.

Regardless, this bill would not free cars built in friendly nations, or domestically, from scrutiny. If passed, the bill would give the Department of Commerce authority to review any sale, importation or other transaction that involves a connected vehicle “designed, built or supplied” by any company that’s at all connected with China or a country of concern. 

The bill takes traditional trade-restriction tools like tariffs one step further by potentially banning connected vehicles bound for the U.S. that are manufactured by Chinese companies in countries like Mexico. That could be aimed at carmakers like BYD, whose CEO Stella Li said in February that the automaker was shopping for a plant in Mexico . 

The bill would also give clear legal power to the Department of Commerce and other federal agencies to strengthen national security protections and prevent future administrations from undoing these protections, a move Slotkin said is not a hypothetical. 

Slotkin pointed to then-President Donald Trump’s order that would have given the U.S. authority to address security risks from social media platform TikTok, which is owned by Chinese company ByteDance. President Joe Biden in April signed a bill that would ban TikTok unless ByteDance sold the app. Trump, who is running for re-election this November, has since backtracked on his previous position and even opposed the efforts to force a sale. 

The U.S.’s elevated concerns over China’s data prowess come as Beijing relaxes rules that govern cross-border data flows. Tesla is reportedly trying to take advantage of this to get the green light to send its own connected car data back to the U.S. to train Tesla’s “full self-driving”  algorithms. 

Slotkin’s bill also comes as the Department of Commerce promises to issue a ruling on Chinese connected vehicles later this year, following the Biden administration’s launch of a probe in February into the national security risks of such vehicles. 

Slotkin plans to introduce the bill after June 3, once Congress is back in session after the Memorial Day recess.

This article was updated to include comment from Polestar. It was originally published at 8:55 a.m. PT.

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South Africa’s president urges parties to find common ground in talks after election deadlock

The Associated Press

June 2, 2024, 5:57 PM

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JOHANNESBURG (AP) — President Cyril Ramaphosa called Sunday for South Africa’s political parties to overcome their differences and find “common ground” to form the first national coalition government in its young democracy.

His comments came in a speech straight after final election results were announced confirming that no party won a majority in last week’s vote. Unprecedented coalition talks were set to start to find a way forward for Africa’s most industrialized economy.

Ramaphosa’s African National Congress party had already lost its 30-year majority after more than 99% of votes were counted by Saturday and showed it couldn’t surpass 50%. The ANC received 40% of the votes in last week’s election in the final count, the largest share.

Without a majority it will need to agree on a coalition with another party or parties for the first time to co-govern and reelect Ramaphosa for a second term. South Africa’s national elections decide how many seats each party gets in Parliament and lawmakers elect the president later.

“Our people have spoken,” Ramaphosa said. “Whether we like it or not, they have spoken. We have heard the voices of our people and we must respect their choices and their wishes. … The people of South Africa expect their leaders to work together to meet their needs. This is a time for all of us to put South Africa first.”

The ANC was the party of Nelson Mandela and freed South Africa from the apartheid system of white minority rule in 1994. It had governed with a comfortable majority since then, but this election saw an unprecedented slump in its support as voters deserted the party due to its failure to solve widespread poverty, extremely high unemployment levels and problems with delivering basic government services to many in a nation of 62 million.

The ANC had said earlier Sunday that it was starting its negotiations with all major parties. More than 50 parties took part in the election, and at least eight had significant shares of the vote. At least 26 of them, including the MK Party led by former President Jacob Zuma, have lodged objections and complaints with the electoral body alleging voting irregularities, which it has promised to address.

ANC Secretary-General Fikile Mbalula said it was open to all negotiations, even with the main opposition Democratic Alliance , which has led the chorus of criticism of the ANC for years but is viewed by many analysts as the most stable coalition option for South Africa.

The DA won the second most votes with 21.8%, and the two parties would hold a majority together and be able to govern. DA leader John Steenhuisen said his party was also initiating talks with parties. The ANC won 159 seats in the 400-seat Parliament, down from the 230 it won in the last election. The DA increased slightly to 87 seats.

There is some time pressure for coalition talks to progress and for the uncertainty to be minimized, given that the new Parliament needs to sit for the first time and elect a president within 14 days of the election results being declared.

Ramaphosa is seeking a second and final term and Mbalula said his position as leader of the ANC was not in question despite the election result. Mbalula said the ANC would not consider the demands by Zuma’s MK Party that Ramaphosa step down as a condition for talks.

“No political party will dictate terms to us, the ANC. They will not … You come to us with that demand, forget (it),” Mbalula said.

He said the ANC would not be arrogant, though. “The elections have humbled us, they have brought us where we are,” he said.

South Africa is a leading voice for its continent and for the developing world on the global stage and is due to take over the presidency of the Group of 20 rich and developing nations late this year. It’s the only African nation in that group.

“Everyone is looking to see if South Africa can weather the storm and come out the other side,” political analyst Oscar van Heerden said on the eNCA news network.

Amid many coalition options, the ANC could also join with MK and the far-left Economic Freedom Fighters, although they have been cast as partners that would make investors uneasy. Both have pledged to nationalize parts of South Africa’s economy, including its gold and platinum mines, among the world’s biggest producers.

The DA has long said it will not work with the EFF and MK, calling them a “doomsday coalition” for South Africa. Steenhuisen, the party’s leader, repeated that stance Sunday in a speech on national television but said his party was starting talks with others and would approach them “with cool heads and open minds.”

Political analyst van Heerden said an ANC-DA coalition would “possibly give stability” but there were some within the ANC who would oppose it. Other smaller parties could be involved to dilute it and make it more palatable for the ANC, some commentators said.

“The DA has approached the ANC as the enemy over many, many years,” van Heerden said. “The next few days is going to be a very difficult period. People will have to be mature behind closed doors.”

Imray reported from Cape Town, South Africa.

AP Africa news: https://apnews.com/hub/africa

Copyright © 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, written or redistributed.

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The Scene Outside the Trump Trial Mellows as Deliberations Start. Sort of.

Even a more sedate day outside the trial of Donald J. Trump includes spectacle and confrontation.

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By Olivia Bensimon ,  Nate Schweber ,  Anusha Bayya and Susanne Craig

• May 29, 2024

Follow our live coverage of Trump’s hush-money trial in Manhattan.

Fresh off a red-eye flight from California, Cynthia Frybarger dropped off her luggage at the Margaritaville hotel in Midtown early Wednesday and boarded a downtown Q train, bound for the hottest pop-up spot in Manhattan.

Her destination: Collect Pond Park, the square plot of cement and trees across Centre Street from the front doors of the Manhattan Criminal Courthouse, where a few hours later a group of 12 New Yorkers began deliberating whether to convict Donald J. Trump in the first criminal trial of an American president.

“I didn’t come strictly for this, but it fit in perfectly,” Ms. Frybarger, 73, said, holding up the “Lock Him Up!!!” poster she had made back home in San Jose.

As Mr. Trump’s trial has unfurled through its various stages, the park has played host to a daily tableau of New York writ small — gawkers and tourists, politicians and celebrities, demonstrators and protesters, all of whom have stood for hours in the baking sun and driving rain, to see and be seen.

Ms. Frybarger arrived around 6 a.m., she said, early enough to witness the spectacle — if a somewhat muted version — that has accompanied the proceedings.

The throng of protesters and demonstrators and hecklers that typically scream, whistle and clang cowbells to disrupt on-air broadcasts was conspicuously quieter. A group of women in Trump-themed clothing gathered in a serene circle and prayed, sang and wept. Another woman blew a shofar. Reporters threatened to outnumber demonstrators. Influencers held iPhones aloft, filming every little interaction to fulfill their content needs in the streaming era.

Scott LoBaido, a Staten Island-based artist, and his partner in spectacle, Dion Cini, unveiled a painting that depicted Mr. Trump as Muhammad Ali standing triumphant, recreating the famous photo of Ali’s knockout of Sonny Liston. Mr. LoBaido, who painted what he called his “masterpiece,” reimagined Liston as Robert De Niro. Mr. LoBaido said he was inspired by what he described as Mr. De Niro’s “insanity” on Tuesday, when the actor accused Mr. Trump of threatening democracy .

A few dissenting anti-Trump voices made dramatic appearances. Vivica Jimenez, 50, a fashion designer, photobombed Trump supporters with a handwritten sign that said “CHARLATANS” before being pelted with insults.

Ms. Jimenez said she had followed the trial since the start and felt she had to finally make a statement. “I’m not afraid to be here,” she added.

As the hours passed on Wednesday, the crowd started thinning, as if recognizing, perhaps, the importance of conserving energy with the timing of a verdict unclear. But the animosity that has surrounded the trial over these last seven weeks was still present: Skirmishes broke out between Trump supporters and counterprotesters, with one turning physical.

As two anti-Trump demonstrators, Kathleen Zea and Julie DeLaurier, ventured into a warren of Trump supporters, a group of shouting men and women wearing “Make America Great Again” garb surrounded them, attempting to block them from view with Trump flags. Ms. Zea said a woman had grabbed her anti-Trump sign and jabbed her with a pro-Trump flag, causing bruising and a laceration.

“I’ve never had that happen,” said Ms. Zea, an activist who lives in Astoria, Queens. “We yell at each other, but I never had a hand put on me — I was being attacked.”

The police intervened and broke up the fracas. They escorted Ms. Zea and Ms. DeLaurier out of the park as a battery of pro-Trump demonstrators followed, shouting insults and wishing them deportation and death. A similar scene unspooled across the afternoon with at least three other anti-Trump demonstrators.

Ms. Frybarger, too, got into a shouting match with pro-Trump demonstrators on the other side of the park, but her experience ended peacefully — or at least not in violence. She wandered over to talk with some of them, and a crowd formed around her, with a police officer ordering the demonstrators not to touch her sign. After some tense exchanges over Mr. Trump’s and President Biden’s respective policies in office, Ms. Frybarger and the pro-Trump protesters seemed to agree on some points, and the crowd calmed.

“That’s how you do it,” the officer said. “Dialogue.”

Ms. Frybarger had tickets to see a Broadway matinee of “Suffs,” a musical about the fight for women’s right to vote. Before departing, she said she couldn’t return on Thursday, but would be back on Friday if the jury is still deliberating. She left fulfilled.

“It became a conversation, which was nice,” she said. “And that’s what we need. To listen to each other.”

Shawn McCreesh contributed reporting.

An earlier version of this article misidentified the boxer whom Muhammad Ali knocked out in a match captured in a famous photograph. It was Sonny Liston, not Joe Frazier.

How we handle corrections

Susanne Craig is an investigative reporter. She has written about the finances of Donald J. Trump and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and has been a journalist for more than 30 years. More about Susanne Craig

Our Coverage of the Trump Hush-Money Trial

Guilty Verdict : Donald Trump was convicted on all 34 counts  of falsifying records to cover up a sex scandal that threatened his bid for the White House in 2016, making him the first American president to be declared a felon .

What Happens Next: Trump’s sentencing hearing on July 11 will trigger a long and winding appeals process , though he has few ways to overturn the decision .

Reactions: Trump’s conviction reverberated quickly across the country  and around the world . Here’s what voters , New Yorkers , Republicans , Trump supporters  and President Biden  had to say.

The Presidential Race : The political fallout of Trump’s conviction is far from certain , but the verdict will test America’s traditions, legal institutions and ability to hold an election under historic partisan tension .

Making the Case: Over six weeks and the testimony of 20 witnesses, the Manhattan district attorney’s office wove a sprawling story  of election interference and falsified business records.

Legal Luck Runs Out: The four criminal cases that threatened Trump’s freedom had been stumbling along, pleasing his advisers. Then his good fortune expired .

• Cast & crew
• User reviews

Horizon: An American Saga - Chapter 1

Chronicles a multi-faceted, 15-year span of pre-and post-Civil War expansion and settlement of the American west. Chronicles a multi-faceted, 15-year span of pre-and post-Civil War expansion and settlement of the American west. Chronicles a multi-faceted, 15-year span of pre-and post-Civil War expansion and settlement of the American west.

• Kevin Costner
• Sienna Miller
• 6 User reviews
• 18 Critic reviews
• 51 Metascore

• Hayes Ellison

• Frances Kittredge

• Diamond Kittredge

• Owen Kittredge

• Hugh Proctor

• Caleb Sykes

• First Lt. Trent Gephardt

• Walter Childs

• Sgt. Major Riordan

• Roland Bailey

• Matthew Van Weyden

• Colonel Houghton
• All cast & crew
• Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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Did you know

• Trivia Kevin Costner 's first directorial effort since Open Range (2003) .
• Connections Featured in The Project: Episode dated 21 May 2024 (2024)

User reviews 6

• megalopolis
• May 22, 2024

The 2024 Festival Films You Need to Know

• When will Horizon: An American Saga - Chapter 1 be released? Powered by Alexa
• June 28, 2024 (United States)
• United States
• Horizon: An American Saga
• New Line Cinema
• Territory Pictures Entertainment
• Warner Bros.
• See more company credits at IMDbPro
• $100,000,000 (estimated)

Technical specs

• Runtime 3 hours 1 minute
• Dolby Digital
• Dolby Atmos

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