For a movie titled Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil, and Vile - taken from the words spoken by the judge as he sentenced Ted Bundy to death - it’s surprising how often the film actually downplays the overall sinister, grimy nature of its subject matter. Bundy is one of the most notorious serial killers of all-time, and a true sociopath, often fooling those around him into thinking he was a charming, likable individual when he truly had no empathy whatsoever. So to make a biopic centered around him should have been approached with a bit more trepidation, as it shouldn't make him someone audiences want to root for. This biopic, however, seems to give him more respect than many of those surround him, making for an odd tonal mess.
The film centers around Bundy’s series of arrests that ultimately led to his original conviction in 1975, and the subsequent trials afterwards. Bundy (Zac Efron) is living with his girlfriend Liz Kendall (Lily Collins) in Seattle. After the disappearance of several women in Washington and Oregon, many recall a man resembling Ted asking the women to help him load a sailboat onto a Volkswagon. Ted is arrested, but escapes multiple times. Each time he's on the run, he reaches out to Liz and vehemently maintains his innocence, though the evidence continues to stack against him.
Screenwriter Michael Werwie makes a bold move with this screenplay, writing the movie in the style of a “mistaken identity” thriller (think Alfred Hitchcock’s North by Northwest). The film goes through most of its almost-two-hour run time portraying Bundy as possibly being innocent of his crimes, which is insulting to the man's countless victims. What’s puzzling about this approach though is that it doesn’t offer much evidence that would really lead to such ambiguity. It’s mainly a series of scenes in which Ted is arrested, escapes, and just shouts how innocent he is. The movie will then cue sympathetic music so that the audience would actually sit there and consider that notion for a moment.
It seemed as if the movie was trying to portray Bundy through the eyes of Liz, as well as those who knew him. He was described as likable and a fairly normal guy, which was all part of the deception. Liz originally stands by the notion that he was innocent, and it’s a huge shock when she realizes the truth. However, the issue is the film doesn’t often focus around Liz, and continues this ludicrous notion during many scenes in which she’s not even involved. The movie mostly centers around Bundy himself and continues the “possible wrong man” scenario in many scenes in which he’s by himself engaged in banter with countless authority figures, as well as old friend Carole Ann Boone (portrayed by Kayla Scodelario).
Each of these other characters, though, are poorly written, and feel more like stock characters than the real people surrounding the Bundy trial. Liz in particular is terribly written. Most of her material consists of her just reacting to news she’s given, and isn’t really given any distinct personality of her own, despite the fact the movie’s supposed to be shown partially from her own point of view. Lily Collins’ performance - while not entirely her fault, as she’s surely just working with what she was given - doesn’t do much to help matters here, mostly made up of flatly-delivered dialogue.
Many of the film’s other characters are simply people who view Bundy in a particular way, and fill out other roles that have been seen before. Carol Anne is the brainwashed groupie character while Jim Parsons plays the prosecuting attorney whose dialogue solely consists of the same cliched stern spiel that’s been heard in countless courtroom dramas. The presiding judge, played by John Malkovich, is the only supporting character with any distinct personality of his own, and that’s mainly due to Malkovich’s acting style allowing for some solid exchanges between him and Bundy, rather than the actual writing.
Once the film actually gets into the courtroom scenes, it makes a very odd tonal shift. Suddenly, the movie becomes a dark comedy, despite not containing any elements of this at all beforehand. Bundy is mocking those who are prosecuting him, cracking jokes, and lounging around with a smile on his face for most of this portion. The exchanges between Bundy and the judge are mildly entertaining though the complete change in pace is abrupt and somewhat confusing. The scenes almost feel like a pale imitation of My Cousin Vinny, and almost lessens the nature of Bundy’s crimes. It’s in these moments that Bundy suddenly gets more of a personality, rather than constantly screaming how he’s innocent throughout the movie.
For a film that’s meant to show a potentially more humane side of Bundy through the eyes of others, the film feels like a lifeless recreation of Bundy’s arrests and convictions, and nothing more. There are scenes showing Bundy at home with Liz, or speaking to her on the phone while he’s away, but there’s never anything that actually signifies a human connection or actually warrants the audience’s sympathy. The film barely scratches the surface of what Bundy’s relationship with Liz was like, and since it doesn’t really dive into Bundy’s crimes, doesn’t accurately portray both sides of the man.
Though Efron himself is pretty solid, and is one of the few watchable elements of this movie. While the material he has to work with isn’t always strong, he works with it much better than many of his co-star. Efron has a natural charm to him, which made him a perfect fit for earlier projects like the High School Musical series, and similar teen dramas. Here, he channels this energy into portraying Bundy well, effectively conveying the personality that he used to fool not just his victims but those who claimed to have known him so well for so many years. Though Efron is still forced to limit himself here, since it only portrays Bundy in the way in which people saw him and not how he truly was, and it would have made for a very nuanced performance had this film been more detailed in its story.
Despite the title of the film, Extremely Wicked doesn’t feel like the horrifying experience it was truly meant to be. While Zac Efron is solid as Ted Bundy, the film doesn’t properly explore his relationships with any of those surrounding him, with many scenes, especially early on in the film, feeling like hollow exchanges with drone-like dialogue. The film is insulting to his many victims, with a confusing narrative that starts off presenting the idea that he may have been innocent all along, before shifting gears completely and turning into an odd dark comedy. What could have been one of the most unsettling experiences that instead goes through the motions, Extremely Wicked is extremely generic.
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