Untitled Home Invasion Romance – Review

It was like a magical dream. Kevin (Biggs) just knew when he met Suzie (Rath) three months before that she was absolutely the one for him, and there he is now with her at the altar. It’s love! The couple’s whirlwind relationship drives them each to be better people and support each other. It is a fairytale ending, at the beginning.

Ah, fuck. Here we meet these lovebirds again a year later, however now reconciling after a trial separation. In his New York apartment, actor Kevin practices some menacing dialogue off a script page. Suzie pops in, acting apprehensive about his “surprise” getaway for them this weekend. Is the relationship salvageable? Will these lovebirds rekindle their missing connection?

Kevin has really been working on himself. He made good changes, and looks forward to this weekend that Suzie agreed to spend with him. Their separation was two months, and Kevin looked to get healthier, and audition more. However, things immediately get a bit weird as Kevin gets a text from his fellow actor buddy Ernie Guerra (Castro) saying “Code Yellow.” What…?

Turns out this film has more rolling for it than the first few minutes of romantic comedy-esque vibes that have been set. As Kevin and Suzie settle into their great reconnection weekend, Ernie remains focused on Kevin’s real plan: impress Suzie with a heroic tough guy move, save her from danger and save the marriage!!

Untitled Home Invasion Romance has some good ideas and some fun plot reveals, but it also didn’t totally rock my world. It absolutely has some good plot curves, decent dialogue and okay characters, but I wanted a bit more comedy and/or a bit more thrill. At times it moves slightly slow, but it does present some decent looks at real relationship dynamics and uses some time to establish some reality.

Rath absolutely rocks her more complex character, but Biggs does his best to escape his past roles and make an identity for Kevin as well. His take adds an awkward and goofy nature which creates plenty of comedy and works well against Rath’s serious and stoic out of his league Suzie. Castro also brings frustration comedy with his ridiculous and naïve Ernie.

As a first-time director, Biggs does a pretty good job. His focus is sound and he is still able to make his own character the butt of most jokes in the film and have a good time with the role. The cast in general found the right zone for their characters to balance the comedy and terror elements, and that can be a tough line to walk. This mixture of a few familiar elements produces some nice twists and turns as it goes which keeps it on the more good than bad side of things. There is more than meets the eye with this one, even if it didn’t hit every single note for me.