Yaya and Chris are models and Instagram influencers. They are at the end of a very swish restaurant meal. When it comes to payment, there's an awkward pause, Chris pays. But he's not happy to let it rest there and challenges Yaya over leaving this space of uncertainty, even though they had previously agreed it would be her turn to pick up the tab. Yaya is incensed, what is he inferring? An uncomfortable argument ensues that teeters on the edge of becoming ludicrous. It captures a contemporary situation when someone thinks they are simply doing the right thing, but begins to believe they are being taken for granted. Does Yaya want a fair equal division over who pays, or is she just allowing it to slip into it being 'the man who pays' because that suits her. She boasts all the time how she earns way more than he does, but when she's feeling a bit mean or short this month, she does this, but can never admit that? This relationship does not appear to have legs.
The scene shifts to an expensive yacht full of wealthy patrons. All the yacht staff have been instructed to respond only with an affirmative yes to whatever the paying guests request of them. Yaya and Chris are here on a freebie given to Yaya as a bribe to a successful influencer. They sit at meals with a variety of extremely wealthy couples, the Russian oligarch who made his money literally out of shit, the sweet elderly couple whose income is generated from munitions sales. Losing 25% of their income when land mines were banned, but they made it through that tough time together didn't they? One evening at the Captain's dinner, the meal has to be delayed because the Russian oligarch's wife insists all the staff must go swimming in the ocean. Though they are warned the seafood food will go off. What follows during an expected storm is an immense amount of food poisoning and vomiting. Its almost symphonic.
And so you get the drift what this movie's main mode and purpose is. It lampoons sometimes with these great gross set pieces, but also in a sharply observed phrase or situation. Showing the unreality extremely rich people live in. The superficiality accompanied by boredom. One minute an elegant refined meal the next vomit and shit everywhere. Its as if the underlying dark side of where their wealth comes from erupts into the room. That said it never takes its parody to the extent of being a clichéd caricature. This is a very smart and cleverly constructed conceit, in script and film, one that is hugely enjoyable.
CARROT REVIEW - 6/8
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