Written by Linda
February 14, 2009
Yuppie Sarah (Caroline Kennedy dead-ringer Michelle Nolden) is stuck in traffic in a nameless urban landscape. She is juggling phone calls, trying arrange last minute details for her 10th anniversary cabin getaway with her partner. Creeping along a city street, she sees a couple of scrappy squeegee kids (Katharine Isabelle and Kett Turton) eyes the cars move slowly by. After she bluntly refuses a window cleaning, she feels a bit of guilt for her terseness and offers them some money. Seeing an opening of weakness, Jenna hops into the car and asks for a ride instead. Her surly pal Jackson seems a lot less eager, and is suspicious of what his cohort is up to. Before they know what they're doing, they pull a gun on Sarah and demand that she keep driving.
The bulk of Show Me (quite the dumb and meaningless movie title, I might add), takes place in the remote cabin in the woods where Sarah's getaway was planned. She's not even sure if her partner Sam was going to show up anyways, because they had just had a fight. Plus, it was Sarah's idea to buy the place, and Sam doesn't even know where it is. In the meantime, the teenagers tie Sarah up, because, after all, they didn't have a plan and are trying to figure out what to do.
Show Me is an intimate drama that takes its times unveiling clues about Jenna and Jackson's relationship, as well as Sarah and the mysterious Sam. As secrets are unveiled, there is some erotic tension that arises from a bunch of edgy people being trapped, in a away, together with no one else around. Some of this tension works, other times it doesn't really, and seems a bit forced by the film supposedly from circumstance.
But the actors are up to the mind games, and the film, despite spinning its wheels at some points, is never boring. Isabelle (from the kooky werewolf flick Ginger Snaps) and Turton (whom I liked so much in Gypsy 83) play well off each other, and Nolden is a nice contrast for them. But after awhile, the tension of waiting for rescue seems to go nowhere, and you just want to wait for them to get on with it and hike to the road and hitch a ride already.
