Review: FRESH May be an Unwatchable Movie, but It Sure Makes A Point About Being Single in 2022

If you're dating, you're literally taking your life in your hands.

Searchlight Pictures’ Fresh starring Daisy Edgar-Jones

I have a surprising number of single friends. Every one of them is smart, beautiful, independent—and after years of dating apps and bar hookups, they are, to a woman, repulsed by their experiences.

“It’s like Hunger Games without the the frilly ballgowns,” one of them recently told me. “Just checking my messages on OkCupid fills me with dread. I can actually feel my shoulders tense, because I already know what to expect. First are the unsolicited dick pics. Most of those are ripped from pornos, so they’re not even real. Second are the married guys who lie and say they aren’t. Third are the guys who seem normal when they ask for your number, but the minute you talk, all they want are nude photos. Why bother getting to know each other first? Why go to the hassle of trying to establish a friendship when it’s clear that 99% of these guys don’t really like women, and in fact, see them as free hookers? So, if you don’t want to listen to his squalid sexual fantasies on your very first phone call, don’t worry, there’s always some other woman who will.”

“Every woman I know is just over it,” a friend I’ll call Carla complained during a recent phone call. “I’m lonely—we all are—but not lonely enough to use my body to get a few minutes of some rando’s attention. That’s what women do on these dating apps. They use sex to buy love. I was watching this series called Pose, which is about transwomen, right? And damn if they weren’t doing it, too. It must be one hell of an thing, going from being a dude to using your body to get two minutes and fifty-two seconds of another dude’s time.”

It’s precisely the point made in black comedy/horror movie Fresh, directed by newcomer Mimi Cave. As a mirror held up to modern romance, it pulls no punches, unsubtly making its point again and again. And again.

It goes something like this: If you’re a woman under the age of eighty, every (straight) man wants a piece of your body. Your value will be judged according to the "freshness” of that body. Men will sometimes avail themselves of your body with or without your consent. If you want to survive, you’d better play along.

Hey, I get it. Being single has always been rough. But now, the availability of online porn, online dating websites, and, well, just being online, has altogether ripped the joy of mutual discovery right out of the equation, relegating it, and you, to a dismissive swipe to the right. Next!

As women themselves, director Mimi Cave and screenwriter Lauryn Kahn (a protégé of director/producer/screenwriter/comedian Adam McKay of The Big Short and Don’t Look Up fame, himself one of the movie’s producers) are completely at home with the subject matter. Misogyny and how it impacts the freak show of 21st-century dating is not lost on them, and they make double-sure it isn’t lost on us. But they do have a disturbing and gory way of telling a story.

In Fresh, a single woman, Noa (Daisy Edgar-Jones), disillusioned by the men she meets online, is both charmed and disarmed when she meets one “in real life” at the grocery store, in this case a goofy, off-beat guy named Steve (Sebastian Stan). Steve talks her out of her digits, and they embark on a seemingly old-fashioned love affair. Noa’s best friend Mollie (Jonica T. Gibbs) thinks it’s “shady” that Steve isn’t on social media, but grows even more alarmed after Noa and Steve go on a weekend trip and Noa’s texts stop sounding like she wrote them. Mollie’s not wrong to be concerned. Steve has already drugged Noa, who is now chained to a floor inside a room.

I won’t spoil the plot for you by revealing what Steve’s real interest in Noa and other women happens to be, but suffice it to say, there’s a distinct Hannibal Lecter vibe to it. For me, that’s where the movie runs into trouble. Yet, because of the obvious metaphor (women’s bodies are consumed in order to satisfy men’s carnal appetites, even in the strictest definition of the word) that violence can’t be dismissed as gratuitous. There is a point to it. But could that point have been made in any other way that would have driven home the message without alienating the viewer? Yes, I realize that censoring art is a primrose path leading to state-sanctioned propaganda films, but … is all this gore absolutely necessary?

Other barbs are thrown: Steve’s icy blonde wife is complicit in the subjugation and destruction of other women. When a potential hero shows up and hears a gun shot, he runs (thus demonstrating the way in which men fail to come to the aid of women, even when women are in deep trouble.) And then what was, for me, the most poignant message: if white women and Black women could only team up, they would be fully strong enough to fight their oppressors.

On movie review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the critics’ consensus on Fresh is: “As gripping as it is upsetting, Fresh makes a provocative meal out of the horror of modern dating.” It gives the movie an 82% “fresh” rating (as of this writing); audience score of 81%.

So, did I like the film? No. Am I the right person to review horror? Absolutely not. Did I think the theme of the movie was well-considered? Yes, and I would like to see other female director/screenwriter teams tackle the issue, as well. Do I recommend it? A heavily qualified yes, but only if you can stomach scenes of horrific brutality.

I made the mistake once of reviewing a 1999 Japanese horror film titled Audition. Quentin Tarantino praised it as his favorite movie, which should have been enough of a reason for me to bail. In it, a man’s left foot is sawn off with a piece of piano wire. Back and forth the piano wire is pulled, cutting deeper into the man’s flesh. It took years before I could look at a piano without thinking about that scene. That’s why I have no business reviewing horror.

But in this instance, I’m glad I forced myself to finish the movie. What was said in Fresh needed to be said. What also needs to be said is how bleak and cheerless the dating scene is for many singles these days. They need all our love and support.

Did you see Fresh? If so, I’m sure you have an opinion about it. Feel free to comment below.