dir. John Logan
So much of They/Them is so inherently ridiculous, it’s easy to believe the whole thing was intended as a self-aware parody. Sadly, it was not. A group of LGBTQ teens are at a conversion camp, where camp leader Owen (Kevin Bacon) switches from smiling friendliness to threatening menace in a blink of an eye, often oscillating back and forth several times within the same minute. Every one of the teens is a tired stereotype. Whilst it’s nice to see such a diversely cast film, it would be much more heartening if a single member of the teen cast could actually act. Everyone makes idiotic decisions, such as throwing away weapons or exploring unfamiliar locations alone in the dark. Somehow, their stupidity ramps up even more when people start getting murdered. There are lots of grandiose speeches about the importance of being yourself, but this is then interspersed with cloying group singalongs or goofy electrical executions. It’s all intended to be a clever skewering of bigotry and conversion camps, but the script itself regularly comes across as more homophobic and transphobic than the actual villains. They/Them does not know what it is or wants to be at any point; this could be a clever example of identity exploration in action, but it’s much more likely it’s just bad writing.
BMDb 