MAXXXINE movie poster | ©2024 A24

Rating: R
Stars: Mia Goth, Elizabeth Debicki, Michelle Monaghan, Bobby Cannavale, Uli Latukefu, Giancarlo Esposito, Chloe Farnworth, Halsey, Kevin Bacon, Lily Collins, Simon Prast
Writer: Ti West
Director: Ti West
Distributor: A24
Release Date: July 5, 2024

MAXXXINE, not counting its flashbacks and flash-forwards, is set in 1985. However, it feels more like a ‘70s indie, with its mix of very tough female protagonist, soft porn (meant to be hard porn where we don’t see all the details), detective story, and horror.

It’s a completely fun blend, and star Mia Goth commits two hundred and twenty percent to everything she’s doing.

Maxine Minx (Goth), nee Miller, is a star on the XXX movie circuit in Los Angeles. She adds to her income by doing stripper gigs and peep shows. But Maxine wants to break into mainstream films. No one who saw 2022’s X, the film that introduced Goth as Maxine, will doubt her determination.

Maxine has the talent to book a lead role in a horror movie sequel, directed by hard-nosed Elizabeth Bender (Elizabeth Debicki), who will brook no tardiness or excuses from her cast.

This puts Maxine in a difficult position when her porn colleagues and friends start getting murdered in horrible ways. Marks left on their bodies suggest cult killings. Meanwhile, L.A. is being terrorized by the Night Stalker.

Maxine doesn’t want to talk to the two detectives (Michelle Monaghan, Bobby Cannavale) on the case. She wants to talk even less with a private eye from Louisiana, John Labat (Kevin Bacon), who seems to know way too much about events that happened in 1979 Texas (covered in X).

MAXXXINE writer/director Ti West also helmed and scripted X and its follow-up prequel PEARL, set in 1918 and co-written by and starring Goth as its title character. In fact, in heavy makeup, Goth had dual roles in X, as Maxine and the aged version of Pearl.

West shows great love for recreating Hollywood and particularly Hollywood Boulevard in all of its freak-flag-flying ‘80s heyday, with its styles, songs and subcultures. He also is clearly in his element with the slasher sequences, which have a bit of ‘80s flavor but also fit just fine in their present-day context.

Goth lives up to expectations, which is to say that she is terrific. Debicki, Uli Latukefu as a loyal friend and Giancarlo Esposito as Maxine’s multifaceted agent also make strong impressions. Bacon is overdoing it a tad as the out-of-town slimeball, but since the character is the type who would lay it on thick, the performance suits the purpose.

MAXXXINE has a couple of moments where it is teetering on being funny or scary and doesn’t quite commit fast enough to be either. There aren’t enough of these to severely dent the overall mood, but they register.

While West and Company never overtly promised this, it’s a little surprising to find that MAXXXINE doesn’t provide more narrative throughline with X and PEARL. There is, of course, Goth at the center of all three, and there are tonal similarities in places.

However, there isn’t some “aha” moment or plot point that makes each essential for the others. X informs Maxine’s character to the extent that we know she’s not easily intimidated (to put it mildly). It’s not necessary to have seen X to understand this, though; Goth makes it wholly clear in MAXXXINE.

PEARL factors in even less to the current proceedings. It is in no way obliged to do so. it’s just that the idea that the three films form a trilogy in the conventional sense will have viewers anticipating a kind of emphasis that doesn’t surface.

MAXXXINE is certainly a kick for fans of the type of moviemaking it celebrates. Moreover, there’s no doubt Maxine herself would love it.

Related: Movie Review: DESPICABLE ME 4
Related: Movie Review: THE MOOR
Related: Movie Review: A QUIET PLACE: DAY ONE
Related: Movie Review: A SACRIFICE
Related: Movie Review: THE BIKERIDERS
Related: Movie Review: THE EXORCISM
Related: Movie Review: BLACKWATER LANE
Related: Movie Review: THELMA
Related: Movie Review:20,000 SPECIES OF BEES (20,000 ESPECIES DE ABEJAS)
Related: Movie Review:TIGER STRIPES
Related: Movie Review: LATENCY
Related: Movie Review: FIREBRAND
Related: Movie Review: LONGING
Related: Movie Review: BAD BOYS: RIDE OR DIE
Related: Movie Review: THE WATCHERS
Related: Movie Review: IN A VIOLENT NATURE
Related: Movie Review: WHAT YOU WISH FOR
Related: Movie Review: THE HANGMAN
Related: Movie Review: FURIOSA: A MAD MAX SAGA
Related: Movie Review: WE GO ON
Related: Movie Review: IF
Related: Movie Review: YOU CAN’T RUN FOREVER
Related: Movie Review: NIGHTWATCH: DEMONS ARE FOREVER (NATTEVAGTEN: DÆMONER GÅR I ARV)
Related: Movie Review: KINGDOM OF THE PLANET OF THE APES
Related: Movie Review: THE COFFEE TABLE (LA MESITA DEL COMEDOR)
Related: Movie Review: FORCE OF NATURE: THE DRY 2
Related: Movie Review: THE FALL GUY
Related: Movie Review: SOMETHING IN THE WATER
Related: Movie Review: I SAW THE TV GLOW
Related: Movie Review: THE THREE MUSKETEERS – PART II: MILADY
Related: Movie Review: BOY KILLS WORLD
Related: Movie Review: BREATHE
Related: Movie Review: GHOSTBUSTERS: FROZEN EMPIRE

Follow us on Twitter at ASSIGNMENT X
Like us on Facebook at ASSIGNMENT X

Article Source: Assignment X
Article: Movie Review: MAXXXINE

Related Posts: