I DON’T FEEL AT HOME IN THIS WORLD ANYMORE (2017)

I DON’T FEEL AT HOME IN THIS WORLD ANYMORE (2017, Neflix original) tells the story of Ruth (Melanie Lynskey), who is having an existential crisis. She’s beginning to see life as meaningless in the face of death while constantly being irritated by people being, well, people. The guy who lets his dog crap on your lawn, the guy who knocks something off the shelf at the store and leaves it on the floor, the vanity truck in front of you with extra smokestacks blowing exhaust into the air. “Everyone is an asshole,” she concludes. When one of these assholes breaks into her house and steals some of her stuff, and the police officer assigned to her case doesn’t seem to care, she takes a stand, joined by neighbor Tony (Elijah Wood), a lonely man obsessed with martial arts and his own personal honor code. Together, they pursue the criminals but find these criminals aren’t just assholes, they’re ruthless and all too happy to kill to get what they want.

The result is a charming, humorous and entertaining movie, a lighter female version of FALLING DOWN. It doesn’t deliver the cathartic punches you’d hope to see after watching the trailer, but it rolls along nicely, and I found myself rooting for Ruth but mostly for Tony, who is simply trying to find himself (and maybe earn Ruth’s love) by doing the right thing. Their duo and the criminals present two sides of the human condition confronting mortality–companionship, love, and fighting for what’s right, versus nihilism. To avoid the latter, one must take a stand. The rest of humanity is in the middle, living out their lives and occasionally being an asshole, sometimes intentionally, often without thinking.

I’m probably reading to deeply into it, but that’s what I got out of it. Mostly, I just thought it was fun. A fun story about two lonely people tired of getting pushed around by life who decided to make a stand that is both ridiculous and touching.