Stream It Or Skip It: ‘I’m Just F*cking With You’ on Hulu, an Annoying Novelty Horror-Comedy

I’m Just F*cking With You is part of Hulu’s monthly Into the Dark horror anthology series produced by Blumhouse (Paranormal Activity, Get Out, etc.). Each movie-length episode is holiday-themed, and this one is loosely tied to April Fool’s Day, focusing on a prankster who seems harmless, but, as these things go, probably isn’t.

I’M JUST F*CKING WITH YOU: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

The Gist: PROMOTIONAL CONSIDERATION BY MILLER LITE! Oh, right. This is where I summarize the plot of I’m Just F*cking With You, not mention the product placement that’s SO GLARINGLY PREVALENT you may just consider cracking a watery, tasteless beer while you watch. That’s what our friends at Miller are hoping, no doubt!

Anyway. Larry (Keir O’Donnell) is a jerk. We know this because the opening scene shows him texting while driving his BMW. Actually, he’s not texting. He’s posting hateful stuff on the internet under a pseudonym — so he’s not just a jerk, he’s also a troll! He directs his nastiness at the woman who happens to be his ex, and whose wedding he’ll attend tomorrow. He pulls into the Pink Motel, a neon-soaked roach pit, where he plans to meet his sister Rachel (Jessica McNamee).

And then he meets Chester (Hayes MacArthur). Chester works at the motel. He’s a gangly, greasy goof in a Hawaiian shirt who immediately bullies Larry into drinking a MILLER LITE EXCLAMATION POINT! Chester knows a gullible rube when he sees one, no doubt, and begins messing with Larry mercilessly. His pranks are menacing but only psychologically troublesome — at first. “I’m just f*cking with you!” is Chester’s refrain, of course. He then wavers between major creepozoid and hurt puppy dog personalities, and Larry quickly becomes the prize sculpture of this Michelangelo of manipulation.

Rachel arrives. She’s more easygoing than Larry, who’s the type that compulsively washes every surface in the hotel room and brings his own sheets. She believes hanging out with Chester will loosen the tense situation, so the three of them park by the pool with a few crazy cocktails to see where the night takes them. It absolutely doesn’t take them down the sociopathic track foreshadowed by Chester’s earlier behavior, and they all live happily ever after. The end.

What Movies Will It Remind You Of?: Imagine Psycho except in Los Angeles, and instead of Norman Bates, the wacko is that dude down the hall in your college dorm who never, ever, ever took anything seriously, ever.

Performance Worth Watching: MacArthur is fully committed to his loony character, and deftly manages the tightrope between funny and threatening. He’s fun to watch even when Chester seems like one joke stretched too far for an 80-minute feature.

Memorable Dialogue: “Nobody! Thinks! You’re funny!” Larry directs his rage at Chester, expressing what you never could say to that dude down the hall in your college dorm who never, ever, ever took anything seriously, ever.

Single Best Shot: The sumptuously photographed establishing shot of the Pink Motel screams KITSCH! Also, WHY DIDN’T YOU BOOK THE HOLIDAY INN?

Sex and Skin: Just a Polaroid of naked male genitalia that Chester leaves in Larry’s hotel room as a prank.

Our Take: Isn’t it ironic how Larry is a sniveling asshat who can only express himself and confront others from behind the veil of the internet, and Chester is so brazen, wearing his trolldom as a point of pride? But that’s as ambitious as I’m Just F*cking With You gets. Director Adam Mason really loves his neon color palette, but otherwise never really brings the movie to life visually.

The first two acts taffy-pull the premise as far as it can go before it breaks in the third — and that third act is a doozy. It’s awful, spiked with cheap and cheesy psychedelic effects and punctuated by an ending that shouldn’t have made it past the first draft. Hogwash, I say. And any commentary on bullying, internet or otherwise, is lost, considering our ongoing struggle to empathize with Larry or Chester.

Our Call: SKIP IT. I appreciate MacArthur’s bananas performance, but he’s stuck in an underwritten movie that’s more annoying novelty than fully realized story.

John Serba is a freelance writer and film critic based in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Read more of his work at johnserbaatlarge.com or follow him on Twitter: @johnserba.

Stream I'm Just F*cking With You on Hulu