Watching Dennis Quaid as a villain in “The Intruder” is like seeing my dad as the villain in “The Intruder,” but, you know, if my dad could act (sorry, Dad). There’s something so unsettling about watching the charming, affable-seeming star of “The Parent Trap,” “The Rookie,” and “In Good Company” be a creep in this home invasion thriller – especially because he’s so good at it.
“The Intruder” begins when San Francisco residents Annie (Meagan Good) and Scott (Michael Ealy) find their dream home; the only problem is that it’s also the dream home of current owner Charlie Peck (Quaid). He sells them his Napa Valley house, named Foxglove – which is also a poisonous plant, but no foreshadowing here, no sir – though the widower can’t quite seem to give up the place where he lived with his dead wife and grown children. He stops by to mow the lawn, evoking Annie’s sympathy for his loneliness and Scott’s anger for his presumption. There are suspicious incidents in the house and Scott feels like they’re being watched at every moment, but Annie can only see Charlie as harmless. Guess who’s correct.
Though “The Intruder” does have its surprises, the end credits have a reveal that’s hardly shocking. The screenwriter is David Loughery, and it’s pretty obvious that this script was written by a dude. Throughout the film, Annie is treated as an object, the goal in the game between her husband and the villain of the title. She has a throwaway line about her career as a freelance writer who covers social justice, but we never actually see her working or even in the same room as a computer. She seems like she should be smart, but she’s frustratingly stupid when it comes to Charlie. Despite clear, frequent evidence to the contrary, she refuses to believe that he could mean any harm to her or Scott, which is tough to buy. The other women in the film have small parts and are quickly forgotten once they’re no longer needed for a plot point.
Loughery previously penned “Lakeview Terrace” and “Obsessed,” staking his claim on a particular type of thriller that “The Intruder” feels of a piece with in its themes of domestic terror, paranoia, and jealousy. This isn’t exactly fresh territory for director Deon Goss either, whose previous film, “Traffik,” has this description on IMDb: “A couple off for a romantic weekend in the mountains are accosted by a biker gang. Alone in the mountains, Brea and John must defend themselves against the gang, who will stop at nothing to protect their secrets.” These filmmakers both know their lane, and while they haven’t made a good movie with “The Intruder,” they’ve made an incredibly effective one.
It’s silly and not particularly well made, but “The Intruder” still works. I haven’t seen an audience as engaged as the one at the preview screening for “The Intruder” in a while. This movie knows exactly what buttons to push and when to push them to get a reaction, from its jump scares to its jokes. It activates the amygdala, evoking fear and anxiety so that the logical part of the brain doesn’t really question its plot holes, inconsistencies, and unimaginative filmmaking until after its (super satisfying) conclusion. This is the type of movie most critics will deride for its silliness and audiences will give a positive CinemaScore to, and neither group is really wrong.
The only person having a better time here than the audience is Quaid. He clearly having a blast in his go-for-broke performance as Charlie, who gives him the chance to be the villain. Of course, he isn’t the typically sinister stalker; his charm here (and that audiences know from his decades of work on screen) is what makes Charlie interesting and his flip to bad guy so enjoyable and creepy. His trademark smile twists into something evil, and it’s surprisingly enjoyable to feel repulsion for this guy we’ve loved in other roles over the years and see him burst through a door à la Jack Torrance. Good and Ealy give solid performances here, but it’s hard to pay much attention to anyone other than Quaid, leaving the movie a bit unbalanced.
“The Intruder” is a blunt but effective instrument. This thriller lacks subtlety and craft, but it succeeds at what it’s intending to do: keep the audience stress-eating popcorn for 100 minutes and leave entirely satisfied with the experience they just had. It’s not a good movie, but boy, is it fun. [C]