Review: MaXXXine

Directed by: Ti West

Written by: Ti West

Starring: Mia Goth, Elizabeth Debicki, Moses Sumney, Michelle Monaghan, Bobby Cannavale

Rating: [2/5]

Reaching stardom in Hollywood often gets acquainted to selling one’s soul to gain the fame and notoriety sought. It involves putting in the work and crossing lines others would not dare to and MaXXXine presents the perfect protagonist to show that sheer determination. Unfortunately, this character that beguiled us before receives a wildly substandard plot to follow, as this slasher fails to enthrall and give us a meaningful conclusion to this character as a whole. 

Escaping the terrors she survived down south, Maxine (Mia Goth) now lives in Los Angeles and continues her sex work while still auditioning waiting for big break in a Hollywood production. When she lands the role in a horror sequel, she sees the light before her but now faces the issue of a mysterious figure killing those around her and seemingly knows about her past. 

With the genuine fun surprises of X and Pearl comes the concluding chapter of the story of Maxine in her pursuit for stardom. She has proven nothing will get in the way of this quest of hers to have her name in bright lights. This film promises to see this come to its tipping point where we leave the backwaters and enter the debauchery of Hollywood and as we navigate this film it proves to be nothing but a rudderless ship not really excelling in anything other than presenting the platform for another stellar Mia Goth performance. 

The film begins with an audition of Maxine in the running for the role in “Puritan 2,” where she can move beyond working in pornography and her face on the silver screen. It starts the film off in style as we can see what makes both Mia Goth a strong actor but also Maxine a compelling character to follow and with all of this promise we get a fairly limp story that certainly has various themes and ideas on its mind but the way it all gets put together does not work. This mostly happens in a third act reveal so bad it made me want to walk out of the theater entirely. A decision hoping to tie the knot but just displayed sheer laziness in its approach. 

Of the major themes occurring within the film we have this battle between religious righteousness and perceived debauchery not only in the United States but specifically in Hollywood and the film industry. This appears in the persistent protests happening in what feels like every other shot the film has to offer, and the continual threat of the Night Stalker haunting the city of Los Angeles. Maxine sits right at the forefront of this bile not only as someone who wants to star in a horror film many of these religious righteous people hated, but also with making her name in pornography. It makes her a target as seen in various conversations with men who recognize her work. Therefore, the film seeks to create this ominous feeling around Maxine and the danger she finds herself but no tension really ever manifests here. A combination of Maxine more than capable of handling herself and a lack of real tension in the filmmaking made this mostly a tedious experience as we try to figure out who has been stalking her and what they want. The only thing that could save this would be for this reveal to bring it all together and it certainly did literally but in such a dull and uninteresting manner. 

That ultimately sums up the major issue of what ails MaXXXine as a film. It has all style in how it seeks to envelope the audience in this 80s pastiche but really does nothing necessarily intriguing with it than constantly remind us of the decade this film takes place in. The more the film displayed it had no real interest in delivering anything with this premise, the reality of this being an exercise in just style proved more apparent. A disservice to Maxine as a character who deserved better given much of what transpired in the first film and how much remains to be mined from this character but Ti West had no real interest in doing any of it and opted for something far inferior. Instead, we received a limp film only salvaged ever so slightly by the fun performances given by Goth and Kevin Bacon but everyone else has their time wasted.