Kill Me If You Dare (Zabij mnie kochanie) is a Polish dark comedy film released on Netflix on February 13, 2024. It is directed by Filip Zylber and the screenplay is by Hanna Węsierska. The film is a remake of a 2019 Turkish film of the same name, originally titled Öldür Beni Sevgilim. It has a runtime of about 1 hour and 34 minutes.
This film explores the dramatic consequences of a lucky encounter with a winning lottery ticket, as a married couple devises plans to eliminate each other in their quest for the coveted prize money.
The cast of Kill Me If You Dare includes Weronika Książkiewicz as Natalia, Mateusz Banasiuk as Piotr, Agnieszka Więdłocha as Agata, Piotr Rogucki as Lukasz, Paulina Gałązka as Dagmara, Mirosław Baka as Bogdan, Dorota Pomykała, Piotr Gąsowski, Małgorzata Mikołajczak and Piotr Nowak.
Kill Me If You Dare Review
It starts like the ending of a romantic film where a hero rushes to the heroin before she boards a train or plane and reaches just in time, to stand on one knee and confess his love. That was Piotr (Mateusz Banasiuk) and Natalia’s (Weronika Książkiewicz) like five years ago and now they are a dull married couple, who don’t even have the time to look at each other’s faces. They may have found the one but their career hasn’t taken off at the same level and financial burdens are sucking every ounce of life and time they have.
Yet they find enough time to celebrate their anniversary and gift each other things they might need. The only problem is that the romance is gone and everything has become practical and cost effective. Instead of splurging on maybe chocolates, Piotr gifts her clothing iron because she had been complaining about the old one. While iron was a necessary purchase it doesn’t seem appropriate for an anniversary gift. To make up for the ruined mood, they buy a lottery ticket while riding a merry-go-round.
Hoping to make up for the mood at night, his work and calls from Piotr’s boss and high school girlfriend ruins any chances he had. While sleeping on the couch, he scratches the lottery ticket and loses his voice after seeing 1 million written there. The couple that wouldn’t have wanted to see each other’s faces in the morning suddenly became passionate lovers as they dreamt of utilising the money to achieve all their dreams. But as one said, with great money comes great responsibility – to protect it from jealous people or even loved ones.
Also Read: Five Blind Dates Review: Playing on Cliches and Traditions Falls Flat
Instead of keeping it in a bank account, they decide to cash it out and put it in a safe, which they buy from their suspiciously pushy neighbour. Everything seems to be going great, they ultimately have enough money to quit their jobs, pursue their passion projects, and go on the holidays they have been delaying. Instead, they get trapped in this distorted view that their significant other is trying to have all the money to themselves. Well, money does have that effect on people, making them greedy or anxious.
On paper, the story of Kill Me If You Dare sounds solid and could become a dark comedy(ic) commentary on how money changes people. But when translated on the screen, all the fun disappears that one could have imagined. And if you already have living proof of that, there is no need to make the same mistake the second time. Yet the creators of this film believed that they could make it better. Maybe they could have by changing a thing or two but in reality, it still ends up a story with a hollow plot, no logic and animated acting that is insufferable to watch.
There’s no linear progression to why Piotr and Natalia are at each other’s throats suddenly. One moment ago they were a loving couple and instantly their personality changed. If they had explored their relationship and how their busy lives took a toll on them that led them to this place of internal resentment, it could have added so many layers. Instead, Natalia is like a puppet in her friend’s hands, who is seemingly taking advantage of her yet she continues to trust her more than the person she sleeps with every night.
Piotr’s case is still believable since he finds it hard to believe that his wife would want to kill him and never actively takes part in anything nefarious. But his friend Lukasz is a devil in disguise, filling his ears with things so he would kill Natalia instead. The first thing they needed to do was to stay away from their friends and never should have told them about the money. It’s common advice that one should never let anyone know about winning the lottery, even if it’s 100 bucks. People will find ways to get their hands on it because it’s free money that could have been anyone’s if they were lucky enough.
One thing that was not at all funny, along with everything else was disguising misogyny and chauvinism as jokes and humour. For example, random characters making wife jokes, how their life is ruined after marriage or they are gold diggers etc. As a society, we should finally get rid of these distasteful jokes. Even in Natalia’s workplace, which is a modern-day advertising agency, discrimination based on gender is not a very common sight. A rude boss who makes you work a lot or micro-manages would have sufficed instead of showing ‘women their places’ to throw in humour in scenes.
In simple words, don’t waste your time on a film which has no plot or performance worth watching for 1.5 hours. If it didn’t work the first time then there’s a low chance that the same carbon copy would work with a different language. It has to be one of the worst Polish films I have watched on Netflix. There are so many great and original storylines to watch in the Polish film category than whatever Kill Me If You Dare was. If I had the power, I would have killed this project before anyone even laid eyes on it.
Rating: 1.5/5
Kill Me If You Dare is available for streaming on Netflix.
Also Read: Pensati Sexy Review: Diana Del Bufalo Realises Her Self-Worth With the Help of a Porn Star
Leave a Reply