Movie · 2015 · Thriller, Mystery, Drama · 1h 48m · R · English
Curator score: 5.0/10 (387.9K ratings)
Not every gift is welcome.
Overview
Simon and Robyn are a young married couple whose life is going as planned until a chance run-in with Simon's high school acquaintance sends their world into a tailspin.
Ratings
Curator score: 5.0/10
IMDb: 7.0/10
Letterboxd: 3.32/5
Rotten Tomatoes: 91%
Metacritic: 77
TMDB: 6.7/10
Director
Joel Edgerton
Production
Blumhouse Productions, Blue-Tongue Films, Ahimsa Films
Cast
Joel Edgerton, Rebecca Hall, Jason Bateman, Tim Griffin, Allison Tolman, Busy Philipps, Adam Lazarre-White, Beau Knapp, Wendell Pierce, Mirrah Foulkes, Nash Edgerton, David Denman, Katie Aselton, David Joseph Craig, Susan May Pratt, P.J. Byrne, Felicity Price, Melinda Allen, Laura Drake Mancini, Darren P. Leis
Where to watch
Amazon Prime Video, Amazon Prime Video with Ads
Curator Review
Verdict
A tense, mean little psychological thriller that turns a high-school grudge into a slow-burn nightmare. It’s strongest as a study of guilt, social cruelty, and marital unease, with sharp performances and a nasty sense of escalation.
Best for
viewers who like domestic thrillers with creeping dread
fans of morally ugly revenge stories
people who enjoy restrained, performance-driven suspense
audiences open to ambiguous, uncomfortable endings
Skip if
you want a clean mystery with firm answers
you’re sensitive to sexual threat or implied assault
you prefer likable characters and cathartic payoffs
you dislike slow-burn tension that turns deliberately cruel
Overview
The Gift is an effective reminder that the most unsettling threats are often social, not supernatural. Joel Edgerton builds the film around small humiliations, old resentments, and the way a polished life can crack under pressure. Rebecca Hall gives the movie its emotional center, while Jason Bateman’s controlled surface makes the whole thing feel like a pressure cooker.
Worth noting
What keeps it working is the precision of the escalation. It begins as an awkward reunion story and gradually becomes something much darker, without losing its grip on ordinary domestic detail. The film is less interested in neat plotting than in the damage people do to one another and the stories they tell themselves to justify it.
Bottom line
It’s also a divisive movie by design. Some viewers will bounce off the ambiguity and the deliberately nasty moral terrain, but if you like thrillers that get under your skin rather than simply chase twists, this is a strong pick. The ending lands as a provocation, not a comfort.
Top Letterboxd reviews
🔮 dana danger 🔮 (2.5★) · 1859 likes
i really don't like "did the creepy guy rape the innocent woman or not" as a Clever Plot Twst
Mike D'Angelo (3.5★) · 1057 likes
69/100
First, the ending. My friend Bryant despises this movie for treating possible rape as collateral damage in a pissing contest, but it seems fairly clear to me that Gordo didn't actually do it. No reason not to show it if he had—"just planting a seed of doubt" doesn't wash, since Simon can easily order a paternity test should the uncertainty bug him that much (and he might as well, really, now that his marriage has been destroyed). Still, this… more
Dakota Joaquin (4.5★) · 1037 likes
Why is Jason Bateman always trying to get a promotion lmao
matt lynch (3★) · 716 likes
Don't be a dick.
Holly-Beth (4★) · 613 likes
since this movie has an open ending i'm just going to choose to believe that gordo chose to be the bigger person, didn't do what he implied, and wasn't the father... for my own sanity bc i was on gordo's side until the last five minutes...
also
fuck jason bateman
2013 · Thriller, Crime, Drama · 1h 46m · R · Curator 8.8/10 (3.3K ratings) · Where to watch: Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, fuboTV, Netflix Standard with Ads, Amazon Prime Video with Ads
A sleek thriller that keeps shifting moral footing while exposing hidden motives.