GROWING UP, I NEVER HEARD OF destination weddings or bachelor/bachelorette parties. Most weddings I attended were held in a church, temple, or banquet hall. Though, there was one wedding that was held outdoors in a park down in the city. Back when everyone started to get married among my peers, there was the standard meal of chicken, some form of potatoes and a vegetable. In fact, if memory serves me correctly, there was not an option for a vegetarian meal back then. I do remember the weddings that took place in a hotel’s ballroom were considered fancy. There was one I attended at a downtown hotel that was extravagant by any standard. The room where the ceremony was to take place was filled with vases and urns overflowing with colorful flowers and strands of rhinestones. The walls of the room were covered in a white silky fabric that hid floor lights shining upwards to form these “light pillars” around the room. After the ceremony, we were all directed into an adjacent room for the cocktail hour, where every hors d’oeuvre one could imagine was being offered by waitstaff dressed in tuxedoes. As for the reception, the meal was outrageous with lobster and filet mignon as the main course, neither are something I would eat. For entertainment there was a twenty-piece band with three singers; I felt like I was sitting at a concert when they were playing. Except for this wedding, all the others were more typical of what one would expect at a wedding.      RECENTLY, A FRIEND’S DAUGHTER WAS TELLING me about her upcoming bachelorette party. She and five other girls were going to Las Vegas for a three-day weekend. As she spoke to me, I was calculating an estimate of how much the trip would cost her friends. With the high-end hotel they chose and the two places she mentioned they had dinner reservations, I thought her friends must be well off financially. What happened to going to a nightclub or nice dinner in your hometown? One bachelor party I attended was held at a bowling alley that provided food and then back to a motel room where everyone except me got drunk while watching X-rated movies. Several others were held in nightclubs and bars, nothing fancy, and nothing like what I hear people are doing now. One bachelor party I heard about was traveling to South Beach Miami, then renting a luxury type big boat to go deep sea fishing. I do not understand how people can afford, what I think, such extravagant things. This is why I thought this dark comedy, mystery drama had a simple premise that was going to harken back to a simpler time. Soon as I got into it, I realized I was mistaken.      A GROUP OF FRIENDS GATHER AT a mansion for a pre-wedding party celebration. The partying changes direction after a past friend showed up with a new game device. With Brittany O’Grady (Sometimes I Think About Dying, Star-TV) as Shelby, James Morosini (I Love My Dad, Foursome-TV) as Cyrus, Gavin Leatherwood (Chilling Adventures of Sabrina-TV, When Today Ends) as Dennis, Nina Bloomgarden (Sugar Baby, Jane) as Maya, and Alycia Debnam-Carey (Friend Request, Fear the Walking Dead-TV) as Nikki; this thriller had a smart edge to the story line. I enjoyed the way the script seemed to follow the characters around more than the characters following the script if that makes sense. The issue I had, though, was the script flip-flopping between comedy, horror, drama and mystery; it felt like it was not sure what it wanted to be. I thought the idea was interesting and enjoyed the soundtrack adding flavor to the scenes. The cast was good, managing body language and lingo for their age group. I only wished the story would have probed deeper into each of their characters. However, I must give credit for the writers trying to create a fresh take on a mystery/horror/thriller movie.

2 ½ stars