Amy Barrett’s “Couples Retreat Murder” is a patently underdeveloped marital thriller. Twists and revelations are lobbed at us, but there’s no bite. They are doled out in a perfunctory fashion as if to compensate in excess for the slim, sketchy plot. The film’s crux is so thin that the screenplay wholly relies on a shock twist to grant us a sliver of interest in its happenings. It comes at the expense of coherent, rational characterization, freely skipping through chunks of solid narrative development and butchering a whole host of supporting characters.
The film makes too much fuss for no good deal. It doesn’t explain the critical facets of its sudden, rapid revelations. A decent thriller must also make sense in hindsight. Barrett wants to dig into secrets and philandering couples making a mess of their lives and backstabbing their partners, but the writing isn’t sustained in smartness and compactness to fully make it believable and genuinely compelling.
Couples Retreat Murder (2024) Plot Summary & Movie Synopsis:
There are two central pairs of couples, their lives and love tied up in more ways than they’d ideally admit. Rebecca (Jessica Morris) and Jim (Rib Hillis) are going through a rocky phase in their marriage. Rebecca complains he barely takes any time for her, hiding himself at work. They have been drifting apart for a year. The strains are evident.
Rebecca meets her college friend, Paulina ( Natalie Daniels), for drinks and to let off some steam. The two haven’t met in a while. Time is not an impediment. They pick up right where they left off the last time. Hearing Rebecca talk of her marital life flailing, Paulina suggests they go to an oasis. Paulina admits her marriage hasn’t been in a good place too of late.
When Rebecca discloses to Jim a wish to go to the oasis, Lotusland, as a vacation and therapy for their marriage, he isn’t quite enthused. He has no faith in what he dismisses as a self-help hack. But, based on her continued persuasion, he decides to give it a shot. In the middle of the journey, Rebecca reveals that the retreat is Paulina’s idea. If Jim had known earlier that Paulina and her husband, Phil (Corin Nemec), would be tagging along as one of the other couples, he’d never agree. This is why Rebecca didn’t inform him previously. He can barely stand Phil, whom he sees as a rich, entitled jerk. His intolerance of Phil is why the four of them have stopped hanging out.
On their arrival at the retreat, Alan ( Alex Trumble), the doctor presiding over the proceedings, takes charge. He tells the couples he founded the retreat five years earlier, seeking to invest all his passion and learnings into it instead of viewing it as another opportunity to make money. Alan’s idealistic talk doesn’t impress Jim, who only turns more unbelieving.
The rules are laid down: no alcohol, no meat, and a simple, leaf-based diet. After some grudging, the couples accede to it. In the first session of the couples’ gathering, Paulina reveals that Phil has been cheating on her. Rebecca had no clue of this. The couples even have to give up their phones as a rule of disconnecting and focusing entirely on fruitful conversations to help them have a fresh, centered look at their marriages.
Who is cheating on whom?
The following day, Jim finds his wallet missing. He gets all worked up, railing at Alan. He cools off in a chat with Phil, who shares his suspicions of Paulina’s fidelity. Jim, too, grudges that Rebecca continues to have an attraction for Phil, though all they ever had was a hookup years ago in college before Jim even entered the picture.
As a patch-up, the two couples are instructed to trek to a clearing. It’s several miles away from the resort. In the long walk and secluded stay, issues would be resolved. That’s the intent of the task. The morning after they reach the clearing, Phil goes missing. Paulina alleges she heard Phil and a woman speak late at night. It must have been Rebecca, she asserts. Rebecca, shocked at the allegations, vehemently denies. She tries to assuage Paulina and Jim that it’s not the case, but Jim doesn’t pay much attention.
Meanwhile, the three head back to the resort, hoping to cobble together a search team. On arriving, however, they find the resort empty. All the other couples seem to have left. Alan is nowhere to be seen, and neither are any staff. They stumble across Alan’s corpse in the closet. His phone can’t be accessed, either. They discover their car tires are slashed, too. They are practically stranded. The nearest town is more than twenty miles away. How can they make it across the desert?
Couples Retreat Murder (2024) Movie Ending Explained:
Who’s the killer?
Jim tells Rebecca he’ll stay awake the night and watch out. Paulina keeps to her room in a sour mood. When she wakes up, Rebecca scans around the house and enters Alan’s office, discovering his medical degree certificate is fake and doctored. There’s also a letter addressed to her from Phil, desiring the end of their supposed relationship, which she discovers in his room. She is perplexed because they have nothing going on between them. Jim isn’t so concerned.
Who’s having a secret affair?
The following day, Rebecca is startled to discover Paulina and Jim speak secretly, kiss, and plot. She is heartbroken and realizes she cannot trust them. She sends a message to the state police via the car’s internet. But Jim and Paulina corner her, forcing her back into the house. The two have been in an affair for more than a year. They reveal their plotting to her.
Paulina had pushed Phil off the cliff into the bottom of a ravine. Jim, a lawyer by practice, had defended Alan in a fraud case. Owing Jim, Alan faked himself as the retreat guru. However, Alan starts to have a fancy for Rebecca the minute they cross paths. He had threatened Jim that he’d reveal their nefarious plotting to Rebecca. The other couples were warded away by Alan with the threat of a COVID breakout, paving the way for Jim to remove Alan from the picture.
Jim and Paulina designed the plan to peg all the blame on Rebecca. But their plans are foiled, so they try to lunge at killing her so that they can enjoy the life insurance of Rebecca and Phil. Somehow, Rebecca circumvents their efforts, knocking them out. In the nick of time, the cops arrive. The film ends with Rebecca heaving a sigh of relief, having pulled herself out of a terrible time.
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