Fingernails is a scifi drama about a world where romantic relationships can be codified and confirmed by a test. Anna(Jessie Buckley) is an out of work teacher in a relationship with Ryan(Jeremy Allen White) which, even though they have passed The Test, she feels unsatisfied by. Anna gets a job at the Love Institute an organization that works with couples to pass The Test. There she is paired with Amir(Riz Ahmed) and while working with aspiring couples begin to develop feelings for each other themselves.
Buckley puts in a pretty calculated performance, the script doesn't do her any favors but Hollywood has been trying to push her as a lead, as a star, for her last several films and she has struggled. She continues to here with a lot of indicating, a lot of Acting, she is adrift in the character. Its simply not believable paired with the script that has various glaring logical holes as well as confusion as to its own themes it all doesn't really go anywhere. White is good but miscast, his hair and wardrobe is straight out of The Bear and yet we are supposed to believe he is a boring businessman(he's a heartthrob!). Ahmed is the only one appropriately cast giving a grounded, believable performance but he can only do so much. Luke Wilson as the head of the Love Institute is great but barely(criminally) utilized.
The production design is all very crisp and clean but with a confused, frequently boring script, it doesn't really matter. The conceit is very close to the far superior The Lobster and given that and that co-writer/director Christos Nikou is a protégé of Yorgos Lanthimos the comparison is impossible not to make and is extremely unfavorable. Fingernails has nothing really to say about relationships or love, it does not utilize it's primary conceit for any clear purpose and it has no concrete definable rules. The result is a bunch of shallow characters talking shallowly about relationships in a way that offers, both within the context of the action as well as the dialogue, no real insight.
Perhaps intriguing for teens or college kids with little to no romantic experience Fingernails has absolutely nothing to impart to any adult who has actually had one.
Currently streaming on Apple+.
Don't See It.
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