Review of 'The Weekend Away'

I caught The Weekend Away on Netflix the other night. The movie is based on the 2020 novel by Sarah Alderson of the same name (which I haven't read). I'll begin by saying don't expect a sleeper by Hitchcock, but The Weekend Away is nonetheless a pretty good thriller with some nice twists.

[Spoilers ahead ... ]

Here's the set-up: Beth (well played by Leighton Meester) shows up on the Croatian coast for a weekend getaway with her best friend Kate. By the next morning, Beth wakes up not remembering the night before (she suspects she was drugged) and Kate's body is fished out of the sea. Everyone is a suspect, ranging from Zain (the friendly, helpful cab driver) to Sebastian (the creepy landlord).

Creds to The Weekend Away for neither of them being a killer or a rapist, though Sebastian is later discovered by Beth to have spying video cameras in every room of his inn. The police turn out to be a mixed bag, and making the detective Pavic almost the killer is good twist.

Even better is Beth's finding out that Kate was having an affair with her husband Tom (they have a newborn baby and he hasn't had sex with Beth for a year), and even better than that is his unveiling as the true villain in this story: Tom accidentally kills Kate in an argument (she wants to end their affair) which gets physical and lands Kate on the rocks and then in the water.

The Weekend Away has a good sense of Beth feeling like her world is falling apart, she can't trust anyone, and her instinct that Zain is a good guy fulfilled. I'd recommend this movie, but I suppose if you've read this far, you've already seen it, so I hope you agree that it was worth seeing.