'Send Help' Review: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O'Brien lead comically violent desert island thriller

I'm definite you've been asked, "If you were stranded connected a deserted island, what 3 things would you bring?" I don't cognize what 3 things I'd bring — a stocked fridge comes to caput due to the fact that there's nary mode successful h-e-double hockey sticks I americium susceptible of hunting for my adjacent meal.

When it comes to Sam Raimi's caller thriller "Send Help," there's capable to chew on, but it ain't a Sub-Zero, either.

Rachel McAdams stars arsenic Linda Liddle, a socially-inept numbers cruncher astatine the Preston corporation. She's the bureau outcast, but she's bully astatine her job, and she believes she's owed for a promotion — that is until her boss' abrupt passing, leaving the institution to his son, Bradley Preston (Dylan O'Brien). He gives the presumption to an aged frat member of his who had conscionable joined the institution months ago, leaving Linda, a seven-year loyal staffer, to tempest into Bradley's bureau to face him.

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Rachel McAdams arsenic Linda Liddle successful 20th Century Studios' "Send Help." (Brook Rushton. © 2025 20th Century Studios. All Rights Reserved.)

Bradley gives her brutal honesty — that he's looking for a "people person" who's "well-liked" and "plays golf." He plainly tells her, "I conscionable don't deliberation you got it," leaving her perfectly devastated. But a firm confidant who knows Linda's existent worthy urges him to bring her to the company's forthcoming merger gathering successful Bangkok, delaying Bradley's intentions to occurrence her. So Linda boards the company's backstage pitchy with Bradley and his mini boys club.

To accidental they experienced immoderate turbulence is putting it mildly arsenic the pitchy plummets into the Pacific Ocean owed to a thunderstorm, leaving Linda to aquatics towards a deserted island. Soon thereafter, Bradley washes ashore, leaving the 2 of them arsenic the sole survivors.

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Dylan O'Brien arsenic Bradley Preston and Rachel McAdams arsenic Linda Liddle successful 20th Century Studios' "Send Help." (Brook Rushton. © 2025 20th Century Studios. All Rights Reserved.)

One important happening to cognize astir Linda; she's a immense instrumentality of "Survivor," truthful overmuch truthful that she adjacent sent an audition portion to the world contention show. She has piles upon piles of books connected however to past anything. If anyone's prepared to beryllium stranded connected a deserted island, it's Linda. Building a structure from branches and leafs, starting a fire, hunting — she's a existent Renaissance pistillate successful the wilderness.

This gives her immense leverage implicit Bradley, who not lone lacks immoderate applicable beingness skills, helium besides suffered a nasty limb wounded from the crash, leaving him wholly astatine her mercy, thing helium had to larn the hard way.

"We're not successful the bureau anymore, Bradley," Linda tells him, making it wide she's calling the shots connected the island.

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Dylan O'Brien arsenic Bradley Preston and Rachel McAdams arsenic Linda Liddle successful 20th Century Studios' "Send Help." (Brook Rushton. © 2025 20th Century Studios. All Rights Reserved.)

The dynamic betwixt Linda and Bradley begs for quality arcs for some of them. We benignant of spot it with Linda, who whitethorn oregon whitethorn not descend into madness arsenic she embraces their caller distant manner — portion Bradley kinda remains an a-hole throughout, adjacent erstwhile helium offers glimmers of a changed man. But possibly that's the takeaway: we're each either ever atrocious oregon yet go bad.

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Dylan O'Brien arsenic Bradley Preston and Rachel McAdams arsenic Linda Liddle successful 20th Century Studios' "Send Help." (Brook Rushton. © 2025 20th Century Studios. All Rights Reserved.)

Rachel McAdams carries the movie connected her shoulders. Despite her quality being a lonesome loser, her over-the-top island-surviving enthusiasm is infectious. She's ever been an underrated performer. Dylan O'Brien, champion known for his stint connected "Teen Wolf" and starring successful the "Maze Runner" franchise, has been upping his crippled successful caller roles (see his career-best show successful 2025's "Twinless"). Even portion playing a implicit jerk, there's inactive thing astir O'Brien that's incredibly disarming.

If the publication was successful the hands of antithetic screenwriters Damian Shannon and Mark Swift ("Freddy vs. Jason," 2017's "Baywatch" reboot), possibly "Send Help" would beryllium a amended movie. That being said, it's surely elevated by Raimi's iconic style, peculiarly his cartoon-like convulsive gore that made him celebrated with his "Evil Dead" films. The borderline-hokey CGI besides feeds into it.

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Rachel McAdams arsenic Linda Liddle successful 20th Century Studios' "Send Help." (Brook Rushton. © 2025 20th Century Studios. All Rights Reserved.)

The Verdict

"Send Help" is an amusing thriller that showcases McAdams and O'Brien's talents. It's not precisely a must-see but perfectly due if you person clip to termination during a flight. Just anticipation that you marque it to your destination.

★★ ½ — STREAM IT LATER

"Send Help" is rated R for strong/bloody unit and language. Running time: 1 hour, 53 minutes. In theaters now.

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