Split

Casey (Anya Taylor-Joy) is at a birthday celebration for one of her classmates, Claire.  She is very solitary and was only invited because it would have been rude for her to be the only one excluded.  After the party at the mall, Claire's father insists on giving Casey a ride home.  She reluctantly accepts.  No sooner are they in the car than they are kidnapped by Dennis (James McAvoy), who uses an aerosol drug to subdue them.  The three girls awaken in a windowless room.  Soon thereafter, Patricia (James McAvoy) assures them that Dennis is not to touch them.  Later, Hedwig (James McAvoy) tells them that the Beast is on the move.  Kevin (James McAvoy) has split into 24 personalities and has regular appointments with Dr. Karen Fletcher (Betty Buckley), usually in the persona of Barry (James McAvoy) the aspiring fashion designer.

 

Casey is clearly damaged from the start and the reasons for that unfold in flashbacks about a hunting trip she had with her father and uncle.  She is the one best able to communicate with the various personalities.  Where Claire and Marcia want to leap at the first opportunity to escape, Casey wants to bide her time.  Anya Taylor-Joy played Thomasin in The Witch, though she was blonde in that role.  It nagged me though the movie as I tried to figure out where I had seen her before.

 

Though it is a movie about a crazy man kidnapping three teen-aged girls, it is often funny.  Hedwig fancies himself as a dancer and demonstrates his mad skills to a Kanye West tune.  He is also the most easily duped, which proves useful and strange.  Dennis is a neat freak, upset when anything is dirty or out of place.  It is funny to see that the various personalities are in extreme conflict.  McAvoy's performance is the movie and he did surprisingly well.

 

This is M. Night Shyamalan's latest effort to resuscitate his career after a string of turkeys (i.e. The Village, Lady in the Water, The Happening, The Last Airbender) and it's good.  The Visit was both scarier and funnier but this is certainly entertaining.  Thumbs up.