Recently, Apple TV+’s “Presumed Innocent” followed the life of a reputed lawyer who cheated on his wife with his colleague. Its early episodes followed a relatively sympathetic arc of this cheating husband that received some criticism from the viewers. Now, Ari Kruger’s “The Shakedown” on Prime Video follows another tale of a cheating man. It shows his trials and tribulations as his mistress intimidates him after he refuses to acknowledge their affair as a relationship. So, it’s something we have seen numerous times in one form or another.
“The Shakedown” focuses on its male protagonist, Justin Diamond (Carl Beukes), a married man with a wife, Natalie (Julia Anastasopoulos), and kids. Despite this seemingly happy marriage, he has an affair with Marika (Berenice Barbier). He uses her for his sexual pleasures. In exchange, Marika expects him to commit to their relationship. But he refuses to get involved any further. After all, he wants to keep up with his façade of a happy marriage. On the day of a family celebration, Marika threatens him to give her a considerable amount. If not, she will reveal their affair to his friends and family.
To solve this problem, Justin seeks help from his brother, Dovi (Emmanuel Castis), who has ties with the underworld. Even though Justin disapproves of Dovi’s criminal interests and has a strained relationship with him otherwise, he decides to take Dovi’s help. Dovi contacts his cronies to take care of the matter, which turns into a series of twists and turns that he doesn’t anticipate. During this journey, certain events from their past create a further mess in their lives. While that happens, Natalie gets bored in her marriage as Justin shows no romantic or sexual interest in her. So, she looks for other options to satisfy her urges.
The gangsters speak with accentuated accents that often seem distant from their reality. But they retain humor and thus seem intentional. Still, no matter what accent, “The Shakedown” uses it in a characteristically Guy Ritchie style. Remember Brad Pitt’s incomprehensible accent and the uniqueness it brought to “Snatch.” Kruger attempts to bring the same sense of whimsy to his narration. Besides, there are characters that go on and on about some things that are not directly relevant to the plot. These moments exist solely for the amusement of their evident derailment.
The humor works surprisingly well at times despite being very similar to its crime comedy predecessors. However, the film never goes beyond being a result of its inspirations and is largely derivative. It uses a number of cliches related to family trauma and extramarital affairs. So, it feels like a mix of similar scenes we have seen in the past. Besides, the representation of an opportunistic woman wanting to exploit a well-to-do man feels outdated, especially since she is used merely as a caricature with no other defining personality attributes.
Regardless, the film holds your attention when it explores things beyond its series of outrageous events. There is a clever thread that connects Justin and Natalie through their marital boredom and sexual frustration. It leads them to unseemly alternatives that eventually show a mirror to their uglier sides. That results in some black-comedy gold. Unfortunately, the film focuses less on digging into these insecurities and behavioral flaws and remains interested in quips and surface-level characteristics of its characters. So, it doesn’t seem emotionally fulfilling to the levels of exceptional black comedies, even if it has chances to be so.
Speaking about the performances, the lead actor, who looks eerily similar to Hank Azaria, has a surprisingly similar range of heightened expressions. He is similarly dynamic in his comedic delivery and has more-or-less similar mannerisms. However, dramatically, he isn’t as impactful as Julia Anastasopoulos, who plays his wife. So, in the end, despite being the ‘fun escapist comedy’ that viewers usually look for, “The Shakedown” remains derivative and underwhelming.
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