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There is a kind of shine that happens when you're watching movies at a film festival. You have an opportunity to see something before a lot of people, which is neat. You might have the chance to see, in person, the stars who made the film. And you're watching the movies with people who love film, and that almost always makes a movie just a little bit better. All of that does tend to make it a little bit harder to see flaws in what is in front of you. Even so, the fourth day at TIFF was a mixed bag. All three movies were films that had intriguing premises, but the actual execution was a lot more hit or miss, and in the case of one of them, even the festival shine couldn't begin to save it.
My first film on the fourth day was one I had been really looking forward to. "The Surgeon" was written and directed by Roshan Sethi, who directed one of my favorite rom-coms last year ("A Nice Indian Boy," streaming on Hulu). However, "The Surgeon" is absolutely not a romantic comedy. Instead, this thriller stars Michelle Yeoh as the titular surgeon. Recently retired, she is kidnapped one morning and forced to perform surgery on a gang boss, played by Martin Freeman. Realizing that she has seen too much, she uses her scalpel, along with other surgical instruments, to free herself. While the movie has some pacing issues, particularly at the start, it is one of the most unique thrillers I've seen, stretching what it means to "do no harm" in a situation where some harm might be warranted. It's a wild, gory ride. "The Surgeon" doesn't have a distributor yet, but this is one to look out for. (4/5 stars)
Following that, I attended a screening for "Babies," written and directed by Lauren Miller Rogen, wife of the film's star, Seth Rogen. It follows Aaron (Rogen) and Annie (Anna Kendrick) as they decide whether or not to have a child. The primary issue with this film isn't that it's necessarily bad – it is laugh out loud funny and has an ending that I really don't think I've seen articulated on screen before – but it feels wildly tone-deaf. Making a decision about parenting is a lot easier when you are wealthy, so it never really looks at the actual choices that many people have to make when it comes to choosing to be a parent, and in a post-Roe world, that choice isn't available at all for many people. There is also a storyline about Alzheimer's that is beautiful and funny, but doesn't fit with the film at all. I kind of wish Rogen had followed that thread, especially since she and her husband are such vocal advocates for families impacted by Alzheimer's. "Babies" will be distributed by Roadside Attractions and will likely release sometime in 2027. (3/5 stars)
The final movie was a last-minute addition, and honestly, I wish I had just gone back to my room for a nap. Courtney Cox is behind the camera as the director of "Evil Genius," the story about the 2003 Pizza Bomber in Erie, PA. The film stars David Harbour as William Rothstein and Patricia Arquette as Marjorie Diehl-Armstrong. The pair plan an elaborate bank robbery that ended with a pizza delivery man being blown up by a bomb. The story is fascinating, but complicated, which means that the film has to read like a Wikipedia article to be coherent. The performances felt very try-hard, and the dialogue felt sloppily written. It was just like any straight-to-streaming true-crime story, just with bigger names attached. There was nothing compelling about the movie that wouldn't be equally interesting by reading any account of the story. "Evil Genius" is searching for distribution. (2/5 stars)
Alise Chaffins is a freelance and Tomatometer-approved film critic.