The Oath Review

R: Language throughout, violence and some drug use

Roadside Attractions, QC Entertainment, 23/34 Pictures, Topic Studios

1 Hr and 33 Minutes

Writer/Dir: Ike Barinholtz

Cast: Ike Barinholtz, Tiffany Haddish, Nora Dunn, Chris Ellis, Jon Barinholtz, Meredith Hagner, Carrie Brownstein, Billy Magnussen, John Cho

A controversial White House policy turns family member against family member in THE OATH, a savagely funny dark comedy about surviving life and Thanksgiving in the age of political tribalism. When Chris (Ike Barinholtz), a high-strung 24-hour progressive news junkie, and his more level-headed wife Kai (Tiffany Haddish) learn that citizens are being asked to sign a loyalty oath to the President, their reaction is disbelief, followed by idealistic refusal. But as the Thanksgiving deadline to sign approaches, the combination of sparring relatives, Chris’s own agitation, and the unexpected arrival of two government agents (John Cho and Billy Magnussen) sends an already tense holiday dinner gathering completely off the rails.  

Thanks to the 2016 election families have frequently been at war with each other, especially during Thanksgiving, because of everyone’s separate ideologies. Barinholtz delivers a rather clever initial concept with “The Oath”. A law that requires you to be loyal to your president is passed and it sparks up some conflicts during Thanksgiving dinner. Naturally, chaos and comedy ensue. Some of the family members are relatable and accurately represent some of the zany personalities that a lot of American families have. I think that the entire environment of the family is well-written. You feel for Chris and Kai because they’re the only sane characters while everyone else is an asshole and/or inconsiderate, especially Chris’s brother Pat and his girlfriend. When tension begins to rise as the film inches closer to Thanksgiving, you feel that natural build up. And when the film tends to be funny, a lot of the jokes land resulting in some genuine belly laughter. One of my favorite recurring gags of the film is when Chris keeps calling his brother’s girlfriend Kate when her name is Abby and it’s so funny. There are belly laughs throughout mainly provided by the delivery of the cast. Their timing is great.

Dear Tiffany Haddish,

I love you. You are officially one of my favorite actresses who never ceases to amaze me. Out of all the performances in this, she is undoubtedly the best. This is Barinholtz’s film, yet she steals the show with nearly every scene she’s in. Like “Night School”, Haddish is the straight man of the film and she kills it. She keeps showing off the fact that she has range. When Chris goes off in his own righteousness, Kai grounds her husband’s temper. She extinguishes his fire. She shut his shit down, not in an over-the-top manner, but in a relatively calm way.

My main issue with “The Oath” is the fact that there was so much potential and enough material to deliver an impactful message for its satirical comedy. There are funny ideas brought up throughout but they’re never fully developed because they’re dropped by the second half of the film. “The Oath” feels as if there were two-thirds of an idea and after a solid 40 minutes there is a drastic shift to the story and it becomes an entirely different movie. I was quasi-digging the first half all the way through, but after a certain point it felt like Barinholtz was done telling his story but had to keep it going in order to fill up a standard feature run time.

All of the characters who were entertaining ended up becoming annoying, for all they do is bicker nonstop. It’s funny to see characters argue as it does hit close to home, but it gets repetitive and exhausting and everyone becomes grating, especially Barinholtz whose character is jolted to an eleven and just stays there. At first you can understand and identify where he’s coming from, for everybody around him is miles worse, but then he becomes part of the problem as well. Chris is an ultimate liberal but is very judgemental, on edge, and just can’t stop hate-watching the news. At least the rest of his family (who are all terrible people), is honest. Chris is an uppity prick. I don’t know about you, but I’d rather hang out with people who are openly shitty and honest than someone who is self-righteous.

Don’t get me wrong, I’ve loved Ike Barinholtz since “MADtv”. I thought he was great in “Blockers” and he’s proven to be a good writer in both television and film. If you didn’t know, he was one of the two screenwriters that penned the Kevin Hart/Dwayne Johnson film, “Central Intelligence” which is a good comedy. For a directorial debut, Barinholtz does a great job with a cast who gives performances like we’ve never seen, such as Billy Magnussen who is terrifying, but he definitely needed to do some more structure passes on his screenplay because it doesn’t feel complete.

The first half is centered on this family who’s ideologies are tested on Thanksgiving, which could’ve been beneficial and more developed to be the entire film itself. Personalities clash and collide. They try so hard to NOT talk about politics and it’s awkward as hell. But then the second half delves into an entirely different movie where two governmental invaders come into their house. One is decent and the other is criminally insane and attempts to kill the family every chance he gets. By the second time he attempts to kill anyone you just scream:

It is a test of morality that can easily be decided for. Instead, the film just goes through a cycle that gets repetitive for 45 minutes as the conclusion basically cops out. There is an absence of a central theme. It has a political undertone, but there are two themes that are focused on: ideology and morality. Those two don’t mesh together very well and not only does it show, but it takes a toll on the film overall. “The Oath” loses its identity as it becomes a parody of “Get Out” and “The Purge”. It’s more loud, annoying, and occasionally funny by the final 45 minutes and it’s disappointing.

“The Oath” has a very enticing and hilarious first half that proves Barinholtz’s talents as a writer, but it quickly deteriorates it’s satirical self identity and becomes an obnoxious comedy that runs in a loop instead of delivering an impactful message.

Rating: 2/5 | 42%

Super Scene: The Thanksgiving argument