Movie Review: 'Locked Down' is Much More Fun than You Think

In the first of what we can imagine will be a spate of movies involving lockdowns and the Coronavirus, HBO’s newest original film, Locked Down stars Anne Hathaway and Chiwetel Ejiofor. It’s London at the start of the pandemic lockdown. For those not aware, England’s lockdown was much more strict than here in America. Thus when married couple Linda and Paxton decided they were going to separate from each other, things got held up by the virus.

Locked together in their multi-level London flat, the former lovers turned unfortunate roommates do their best to avoid each other while waiting for the lock down to end. This might sound like the set up for some wacky, War of the Roses inspired, hijinks movie but it’s not. That’s certainly a way to go for the next Lock Down comedy but Locked Down has some genuine issues to work through between Linda and Paxton.

The problems here aren’t cute or simple. It’s not even that they’ve cheated on each other, they’ve each been faithful. The problem is Paxton. After years of being a bad boy with a motorcycle, he’s reached a point in life where he feels like he missed his chance to be a success. Paxton is having an existential crisis and his consistent belief that the universe is conspiring against him has sabotaged his relationship with Linda.

For her part, Linda hates her highly successful job. Linda works for a nebulous media company owned by a clueless and thoughtless corporate titan, played in a Zoom cameo by a very welcome Ben Stiller. We’ve not seen much of Stiller in recent years and he remains a welcome comic presence. He inhabits a cluelessly out of touch CEO in funny fashion. It’s a more subtle and sharp performance than you’re imagining and it’s very good.

Yes, inevitably, the movie does riff a little on the trends of the lockdown. Jokes about making bread and wearing pajama bottoms to Zoom meetings aren’t exactly cutting edge comedy but director Doug Liman never lingers over these moments. He’s after something deeper, the overall angst and pain of being in lockdown and the tiny catharsis we find in little moments, whether it’s a stolen drag on a cigarette or fooling everyone on a Zoom call into thinking you really did get dressed up.

Locked Down is clever that way but never clever at the expense of these characters. Doug Liman really likes these characters and he lets them both have a good point about where they are in their relationship. While I said it is Paxton’s fault that his existential crisis is affecting his marriage, Locked Down is far too smart to let Hathaway’s character completely off the hook. The conversations these two characters have carry a depth of meaning that real life couples may recognize and find potent.

Then, in the third act, Locked Down becomes a different movie. I won’t spoil anything, even though everyone is spoiling it, but the final act of Locked Down becomes something more of a Doug Liman movie and if you are a fan of his work, you will know what I am talking about. The third act is much more daring in terms of style and dynamic in terms of storytelling leaps and bounds. It worked for me, I didn’t find it to be too much of a stretch and by the time it all played out, I was very entertained.

I wasn’t sure that I was up for a movie about a virus lock down and two people locked in together who hate each other. In that way, Locked Down was a really great surprise. Aside from the couple of sour notes I mentioned, director Doug Liman and his two brilliant lead actors rarely misstep. Locked Down is funny but never pushy, it’s dramatic but in a fashion that feels authentic, the drama is an extension of two real lives lived together and struggling as they come apart amid the kind of stress we’ve all been feeling these days.

Locked Down is streaming now on HBO Max.