Into the Dark: Treehouse movie review (2019)

The Harvey Weinstein of this situation is a celebrity chef named Peter (the great Jimmi Simpson of “Westworld”), clearly modeled after Gordon Ramsay. He’s the kind of TV personality who yells at more inexperienced chefs on national television. In other words, he’s made a career out of being an abusive asshole. And that’s because that’s what he is in his private life too, although “Treehouse” struggles sometimes with how we’re supposed to see Peter. At first, the extent of Peter’s villainy is unclear. After all, he’s nice to the daughter he doesn't spend enough time with and he IS the protagonist of “Treehouse,” even if it’s clear he’s going to learn a lesson or two before the movie is over.

Peter heads home to lie low as conversations about another looming controversy that's about to break hang in the air. He runs into his sister Gwen (Amanda Walsh) for the first time in ages and interacts with his irascible housekeeper Agnes (Nancy Linehan Charles). On the way to his family’s vacation house, he also sees a face from the past in the creepy Lonnie (Michael Weston), who still runs the local bait shop. At first, it appears that “Treehouse” may be a riff on Joel Edgerton’s “The Gift,” in which a cocky man is tormented by someone he bullied in the past.

This is not that movie. It shifts when Peter is visited by a girl named Kara (Julianna Guill), who tells him that their bachelorette party nearby has hit a snag—they’ve lost power. First, Peter just gives them some candles and flashlights, but then he decides to be magnanimous enough to cook them dinner. The party comes over to Peter’s house and includes the bride (Shaunette Renee Wilson), her mother (Mary McCormack), and friends played by Sutton Foster, Sophia Del Pizzo, and the great Stephanie Beatriz of “Brooklyn Nine-Nine.” As Peter gets drunker and drunker, his truly awful side turns up to 11. He makes uncomfortable jokes at everyone’s expense, and it’s clear that the tables will be turned on Peter before long. However, exactly how those tables flip won’t be spoiled here.

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