Karen (2021)

Karen is the kind of thriller that plays like a pressure cooker with a wicked, almost campy fuse—part social provocation, part “can you believe this?” midnight-movie spectacle. It’s not subtle, and that’s exactly the point: the film leans into heightened, outrageous behavior to keep you alternately tense, incredulous, and laughing at the sheer audacity of it all. Taryn Manning goes for broke in a performance that’s so big and brazen it becomes the engine of the movie, turning every scene into a watchable train barreling toward the next escalation. If you’re looking for nuance, you may bounce off it, but if you want an entertaining, absurd ride that’s easy to react to with friends, Karen is strangely hard to look away from.

Karen is clearly trying to be a timely, confrontational thriller about racism and neighborhood power dynamics, aiming to provoke anger and catharsis in equal measure. The problem is it does it with a sledgehammer: characters behave in wildly exaggerated, often ridiculous ways, and the message is delivered like a clunky lecture rather than a story that builds real tension. As a thriller, it rarely lands the suspense or payoff you’re hoping for, so it can feel more aggravating than gripping. If you can tolerate heavy-handed execution for the sake of seeing the premise played out and a few moments of comeuppance, you might get something out of it—but if you want nuance, believable writing, or genuine thrills, this probably isn’t worth your time.