Windfall review – uneven but entertaining class war ménage à trois

Somewhere in California, a shabby man (Jason Segel) pokes around a beautiful villa, inspecting its many rooms and luxuries, all the time looking like he shouldn't be there. Of course, he shouldn't. Stumbling upon some hidden cash, he's about to take flight when the owners – a billionaire tech CEO (Jesse Plemmons) and his wife (Lily Collins) – arrive on the scene. Cue an awkward kidnapping in which no parties really understand how to proceed.

Charlie McDowell's lockdown-made Windfall benefits from the casting of Segel, Plemmons and Collins, whose three-way chemistry makes for a fun dynamic, though his film doesn't quite find a satisfying place to take its intriguing premise. McDowell's superior debut, The One I Love, was similarly basic in its set-up: minimal cast members confined to a single location. But where that film thrived on its ambiguous air, this one promises more than it can deliver.

The relatively relaxed hostage situation – and the almost comedic tone of the piece – is interesting, if only because we get the sense that this couple are indulging their captor way more than anyone realistically would. Do they in fact relish this scenario, subconsciously, because it breaks the monotony of an otherwise sterile existence? Maybe: the film doesn't go that deep. A Hitchcock-like score hints at McDowell's ambition to create something that's closer to an exercise than a true exploration.

All three leads get to play against their established screen personas to mostly successful effect: Segel's goofy charm is exchanged for spiky desperation; Plemmons' everyman affability for something increasingly sinister; and Collins' sunny exterior is masking a simmering contempt for her “perfect” life and maybe even her lover. In the end, Plemmons steals the movie, but all three cast members do good work with what they're given.

Interestingly, Windfall was co-written by Se7en's Andrew Kevin Walker, which might account for the nihilism of its ending. Shame, then, that the climax feels like a step too far; it's hard to buy into and all that comes before seems to work less as a result. If there's an attempt to dissect class in modern day America, by the time the credits roll we're not really sure what the film has to say about anything, save for… rich people aren't as happy as they appear to be? Maybe? Windfall is a fun diversion – but it's far from the payload suggested by its title.

Windfall is now streaming on Netflix.