Eenie Meanie (2025)
Directed by: Shawn Simmons
Premise: A former getaway driver (Samara Weaving) gets pulled into a heist to get her boyfriend (Karl Glusman) out of trouble with a gangster (Andy Garcia).
What Works: The strongest element of Eenie Meanie is the characterization of Edie and John, played by Samara Weaving and Karl Glusman, and the relationship between them. The movie takes awhile to get them together. At the start of the story Edie and John have separated but Edie discovers she is pregnant and walks in on John’s latest mess. There is a complicated tension between them. John is bad for Edie and she knows that but their shared history and his occasional charisma keep bringing her back. Weaving and Glusman have a natural chemistry and are convincing as a couple who have been together for a long time. Their rapport overcomes an inherent story problem. There’s nothing concrete compelling Edie to take part in the heist; it’s John who is on the line but Edie’s emotional commitment is convincing enough to make her motives believable. Eenie Meanie has some colorful characters. They are funny and have personality ticks; the actors bring a lot of detail to their roles. The story is set in Cleveland and it uses the city pretty well, giving the film a specific sense of place.
What Doesn’t: A lot of Eenie Meanie consists of story elements we’ve seen before. Samara Weaving’s character is the criminal who got out and is pulled back in for one last job. The heist turns out to be the least interesting aspect of the entire movie. It’s something we’ve seen before in plenty of other pictures from Point Break to Ocean’s 11 to Dog Day Afternoon and Eenie Meanie doesn’t bring anything new to the set piece. The heist feels perfunctory and without much sense of showmanship or drama. The same is true of the car chases of which there are several in Eenie Meanie. These sequences are competent but the car chase is such a familiar staple of moviemaking that the set pieces play as something we’ve seen before. The heist is complicated by the presence of an outside gangster played by Marshawn Lynch. He has a history with the protagonists but Lynch’s character is introduced too late into the movie and then exits the story abruptly. Nothing is accomplished by including that character and he could be cut from the story without changing anything.
Disc extras: Available on Hulu.
Bottom Line: Ennie Meanie is a cliché heist scenario but it has enough humor and humanity to overcome its familiarity. The characterization makes it work even if the car chases don’t quite thrill.
Episode: #1064 (September 14, 2025)