Dangerous Lies Review: Camila Mendes Stars in Netflix’s Most Chaotic Thriller Since Secret Obsession
About two thirds of the way through Dangerous Lies on Netflix, our protagonist is halfway convinced her husband might be an armed robber, a murderer, or both. When pressed by her impeccably dressed lawyer (Jamie Chung) to provide any possible motive for her beau’s actions, Katie (Riverdale’s Camila Mendes) blurts out, confidently, “He really hated being poor.” She’s not wrong, I guess. He did mention that a few different times during the film.
I’m not going to tell you whether Adam (Jessie T. Usher) is truly the mastermind behind the suspiciously intricate crimes taking place in this quiet suburb of Chicago, but I will say that you will simultaneously predict the twist ending from a mile away while having absolutely no idea how you got there. This is truly Netflix’s most chaotic thriller since Secret Obsession—the film in which Brenda Song suffers from temporary amnesia and is convinced by a psychopath with mediocre Photoshop skills that they’re married and live in a remote cabin with no cell signal. (She’s rescued by the Allstate Insurance guy, don’t worry.)
But back to Dangerous Lies. Here’s what you need to know: After sweet, responsible Katie and her husband, who hates being poor, survive a holdup at the diner where she works, she takes a new job as a caretaker for a nice old man in a “sprawling, empty Chicago estate.” Despite working for Leonard for only four months, they grow close and she’s able to get her husband a job as a gardener.
When Leonard passes away, the couple is pleasantly surprised to learn he’s left his home (and a hidden trunk full of loose cash) to Katie. This sets off a chain of increasingly fraught events that would send anyone but Katie and Adam, apparently, running straight to the cops. Unfortunately for them, a detective (Sasha Alexander) with nothing better to do than investigate the seemingly natural death of a man with no family is watching them very closely. Any resemblance to the plot of Knives Out ends here.
Dangerous Lies makes a few things abundantly clear: One, money changes people. Two, don’t marry a man who doesn’t listen to your perfectly reasonable requests about your own home and finances. Three, never marry a man. Though, to be honest, I’d already learned that last one from all the scary Lifetime movies that came before this…and Secret Obsession.
If all of this reads like a warning to skip over Dangerous Lies when it undoubtedly shows up as trending in your queue, it’s not. This is the perfect low-stakes thriller to pop on during quarantine when your stress level is high enough already and all you want to do is watch something kind of mindless and fun, without having to invest in a 10- to 20-episode series. Need to kill an hour and a half? Dangerous Lies may just be exactly what you’re looking for.
Stream* Dangerous Lies *on Netflix.
Originally Appeared on Glamour
