'Kill Me If You Dare'

Brief synopsis: Demet and Okan have a fairytale love, blissfully enamoured of one another. Five years of marriage later, the lustre of the fairytale has worn off and Demet is unhappy that her husband shows no spark of romance, giving her an iron for their anniversary, and is tight with their money. A lottery salesman walks past and Okan buys a ticket.

Later on, when they are at home, a still irritated Demet tells Okan to go and sleep in another room so as she will not hear his snoring. She is surprised to hear him screaming moments later. She rushes into the lounge to find her excited husband. He tells her they have won the lottery.

Is it any good?: I actually found the film quite amusing and enjoyed the performances. It has a low score of 4.6 on IMDB and, though it is no comedic masterpiece, it is not as poor as that score would have one believe.

Spoiler territory: Okan (Murat Boz) is stuck in traffic. He is trying to get to the station where Demet (Seda Bakan) is waiting for a train. Demet looks around, hoping to perhaps see him. Not seeing him and somewhat crestfallen, she goes to board the train. Okan, seeing the traffic is not moving, leaves his car and runs to the station.

At the station he looks around for Demet. He runs to the platform as the train is pulling away, looking through the windows for her. The train leaves the station. A down Okan turns to leave and sees Demet. He goes to her and proclaims his love. She loves him to. He proposes to her and she accepts. Five years later, their lives are very different.

A less than impressed Demet watches Okan shovelling food into his face in the mall food court. It is their five year anniversary and Okan has brought her to the mall, in which she works, for a lunchtime meal. He pays for the meal with coupons. He cannot understand why she is so upset. Demet points out that he bought her an iron as an anniversary gift.

Okan cannot fathom why she is so unhappy. She tells him that there is no excitement in their marriage, that they never go on holiday. Okan decides to buy a lottery ticket. He does not have enough for the ticket and asks her for the rest. Demet gives him the money and gets up to return to work. He stops her. She forgot the iron.

A raging Demet returns to work, barking at the other shop girls as she walk through the store. Gonca (Açelya Topaloglu), her best friend, tries to calm her down. Demet tells her about Okan taking her to the upstairs food hall and giving her an iron as a gift.

Gonca tells her she would divorce him if that happened to her. Demet points out that not only does she not have a husband, she does not even have a boyfriend.

They change subject, Demet saying they had better get to work before their awful boss returns. Gonca tells her about a plan she has thought up to kill their boss. Demet tells her she is crazy. The get back to work.

Okan returns to his office and is applauded. He has won employee of the month and his boss, the beautiful Zeynep (Seda Güven), gives him a prize of insurance policies for him and his wife. Bülent (Özgür Emre Yildirim), a colleague of Okan, comes over to Okan’s desk. Bülent is a little overzealous and enthusiastic.

Later at home, Demet’s frustration is exacerbated when she goes into the bathroom and steps on the wet floor. 'Why can’t he dry the floor?' she shouts. Okan, who is in bed, mumbles that the bathroom is meant to be wet. Demet comes to bed. Okan tries to get amorous. She tells him she is not in the mood and has a headache.

Okan decides to sleep in another room. Demet spreads out in the bed, glad to have it all to herself. She is shocked out of her moment of joy when she hears Okan screaming. She runs into the room he is in.

He tells her that they have won the lottery. He gets her to check the numbers. They have won. All the numbers have come up and they have won five million lira. They dance around, ecstatic at the win.

The next day, Demet saunters into work late. Her boss tries to tell her off and she resigns, telling him off before she goes. Gonca, inspired by her friend, spits on the boss and walks out. She meets up with Demet, panicked at the fact that she has no income. Demet tells her not to worry. She tells her that she won the lottery and will look after her.

Gonca tells her that Okan will want to save the money, Demet, having spoken to Okan earlier and hearing his plan to not spend any money and just invest it, looks worried. Demet decides to go on a shopping spree.

When she returns home, Okan has all the money at home. He does not trust banks and wants to put it under the bed. Okan sees that she has been shopping and is even more distressed as she tells him she has quit her job and put a deposit on a shop.

They argue about the money. Okan decides to have a safe installed with two locks, each of them having a key each. Later, Demet is out to lunch with Gonca. Gonca tells her that when men get money they change their car and then their women.

Demet says she is silly but then sees Okan coming into the same expensive restaurant with Zeynep. She goes over to confront him, ignoring Zeynep’s offered hand. Okan points out that they are having a business lunch and that it is Zeynep, who Demet has never met but has heard about.

An embarrassed Demet leaves the restaurant. Gonca is convinced that Okan is going to get with Zeynep. Demet ignores her. After Demet tells her that Okan has gotten her life insurance, Gonca is convinced that he wants to kill her. She says that Demet should kill him first. Demet tells her she is being silly.

Okan goes to dinner with Bülent. He tells him about the lottery win, though he does not tell him how big a win it is. Bülent tells him he needs to get rid of his wife. Okan tells him he is a psychopath. A weary Okan goes to drive home but there is no petrol in the car because Demet did not refill it.

Demet speaks to Gonca again. Gonca is still convinced that Demet wants to kill her and tries to convince Demet as much. Okan returns home and Demet's mind goes into overdrive when she sees him carrying a petrol container. An angry Okan comes in and starts telling her that he is going to fix everything permanently.

Demet is convinced her life is in danger and goes to bed with a kitchen knife. The next day, she meets up with Gonca and tells her what happened. Gonca comes up with a plan for her to kill Okan. Later, Demet speaks to Gonca. She was too scared to carry out the plan. Okan overhears her and realises that she plans to kill him.

Okan tells Bülent. Bülent tells him to take her away on holiday and he will fake an accident whilst they are away. Okan takes Demet to a beautiful resort, staying in a honeymoon suite. Both parties bring along their respective friends secretly, as both are planning to kill the other.

When they get to the resort Okan has booked the honeymoon package that includes a trek. The guide comes to tell them that the trek is happening the next day. Okan did not realise there was a trek. Demet says to the guide that Okan cannot do the trek. Okan, offended by the slight on his manhood, says he will go.

Demet tell Gonca about the trek. She is sure it will be fine as they will be with other people. Gonca goes to the resort bar. She meets Bülent. They hit it off straight away. They go to an illegal casino and then spend the night together.

Okan and Demet go on the trek. They zip line down from a mountain, Okan fainting, the fear of the zip making him narcoleptic. When crossing a river, Okan accidentally pushes Demet off the bridge. She is convinced he tried to kill her. Both end up talking to their respective friends.

Both friends hatch plans to dispose of the partners; Bülent with an elaborate ploy that involves drunkenness and slipping. Gonca plans to poison Okan with fish. Unfortunately, both plans go awry as Demet does not want to drink and Okan does not feel like eating fish. Demet tries in vain to convince him to eat the fish.

Gonca, who is pretending to be a waitress, also recommends the fish. He does not want fish. Okan and Demet end up arguing and are overheard by a nearby table of men. They are not impressed with Okan shouting at Demet and tell him so. Okan confronts one of the men. The man stands up and is an absolute hulk of a man. Okan gets beaten up.

Gonca comes up with another plan. They are to go out on a boat and kill him on the rocks. Meanwhile, Bülent has a plan to drown Demet while scuba diving. Once again, both plans go wrong. Gonca and Bülent tell one another about the other’s reason for being there. They realise they have a common goal.

Gonca hatches another plan. They are to go paragliding and the restraints will fail, killing Okan. Demet and Okan are out to dinner and find the romance and love between them is not as dead as they believed. On the way back to the resort, Demet points out a property she loves.

The next morning, Okan tells her he has surprise for her. He goes to take a shower and his mobile rings. It is the realtor of the property she loved calling to tell him that it is ready. Demet is ecstatic. Okan’s phone buzzes. It is a message from Zeynep. She tells him she is coming over to the resort.

Demet is furious and crushed, believing he is leaving her for Zeynep. She leaves him at the resort. Okan receives a call about the paragliding. Once again, he decides to do it, not wanting to look like a coward. Demet meets Zeynep at the airport. She tells her that Okan was leaving the business and the villa was for Demet.

Demet goes back to the resort. She finds out that Okan has gone paragliding and goes looking for him. They get back together. Bülent, who had tried to scam the casino, goes to see Gonca having been beaten up. He needs 100,000 lira. Gonca gets a message from Demet. She loves her husband. She does not want to kill him. Bülent gets a similar message from Okan.

The two are enraged, feeling used and abandoned. Demet and Okan are at the new villa. Gonca and Bülent turn up to kill them. Gonca wants all of the money. Okan accidentally tells them how much money they won. As Bülent and Gonca talk, distracted, Okan and Demet make a run for it. The two ex-friends chase them around the villa.

They crash through the patio doors and are all knocked unconscious. The next morning, Okan and Demet wake up and run. Gonca and Bülent wake a little later and give chase once again.

They trap them at the edge of a small outcrop over the water. Okan and Demet jump into the water. A surprised Bülent and Gonca, get hit by a paragliding couple and end up in hospital.

Demet and Okan return home and open the safe. All the money is gone, stolen by the man who installed the safe. A year later Demet is pregnant and the man who sold them the lottery ticket the year before is back. The prize is double. The end.

Kill Me If You Dare is a Turkish comedy written by Murat Disli and directed by Senol Sönmez. Taking the simple central premise of a vast fortune magnifying every persons real personality, Kill Me If You Dare is an amusing, if at times silly, film that bumps along nicely over its 104 minute runtime.

The two leads in Murat Boz and Seda Bakan, as the confused and jaded couple, are great and are ably supported by Açelya Topaloglu and Özgür Emre Yildirim as their less than reliable friends. Though, as I mentioned before, it scores 4.6 on IMDB, it is definitely better than that score indicates.

Admittedly, as I am not a person who speaks Turkish, it is difficult to know if the translation is perfect, but as I was reading subtitles, as opposed to it being dubbed, and it was still amusing, I can only believe that it would be funnier in its native tongue.

The actors commit to their roles making the slightly silly story and extreme premise work. Sönmez’s direction keeps the story moving along quickly, though there are some scenes that could have been left out to make the film slightly shorter and tighter.

Overall, Kill Me If You Dare is not going to win any awards or become a comedy classic but it is far better than a lot of the so called comedic efforts that are available on Netflix. An inoffensive 100 plus minutes of amusing entertainment.