Ingrid Goes West
Watching someone only a few missteps removed from ourselves flailing around and fucking up is always a good time. Enter Ingrid. With the worst or exaggerated social media tendencies she is the embodiment of what older people fear everyone, especially young people, are turning into. Engrossed with social media, her phone, living out and documenting what a perfect life looks like on the Gram.
The opening scene is reminiscent of the social media episode, Nosedive, from Black Mirror except not so removed from reality. A single woman ruining someone’s wedding seems like the worst offense but is perfect for bringing wedding expectations down to earth. Even though it is supposed to be magical and wonderful it is still just an event capable of being ruined by anyone or anything. The wrecking ball in this case is Ingrid. Who doesn't want to mace a relative stranger in the face for the perceived ways they have wronged you?
I'm always up for a dark comedy and knew Aubrey Plaza in the title role means this movie would get good and weird. Influencer is the new attainable celebrity and California is filled with them. Ingrid has the money, boredom and interest to take her shot and ventures out to the West coast. What would you do with a backpack full of cash and nothing holding you back?
We root for Ingrid because we are her- flawed, wallowing in unhealthy obsessions and wanting what everyone wants online or outside of it- human connection. It is hard to make anything resembling a new friendship when you are an adult and Ingrid makes that painfully clear. Socially awkward and grieving her mother’s death, she seeks out the easiest source for connection, her ever present phone. People make connections with each other online and seek each other outside of text, emojis and pictures. This is relatable. Then escalating it to the next level by manipulating situations to have a friendship meet cute is where it gets weird- also when it involves kidnapping a dog.
Ingrid Goes West really plays up the notion that everyone, on some level, is a phony, at especially in California, from Taylor's transformation to Ingrid's which we track in real time. Ingrid gains followers by copying Taylor's formula for Instagram success. The requisite foodie and sun soaked beach pictures rendered banal through repetition still hold some magic to those outside of California’s perpetual summer. She also gets a boost when Taylor tags her in a coveted Instagram post. Printing out the photo and making it tangible shows the online world seeping off line for continued admiration of your photos and you.
My version of the Squad Goals horse painting from Ingrid Goes West.
I hope someone is making paintings like this on Etsy or anywhere because they are great and made me involuntarily bark with laughter- the highest praise in terms of laughter I can supply.
K-Ci & JoJo pull at the nostalgia heartstrings like only a r&b hit from your past can with All My Life made for singing in the car with your new friend. It doesn't work out so well when you mess up your landlord's truck when swerving instead of singing was impossible. Other mishaps and chaos ensue trying to keep everything under wraps and away from Taylor’s attention. The inevitable downward spiral occurs after Ingrid’s unsavory tactics are revealed by Taylor’s brother.
Down and out after splurging on the house next door to Taylor’s, Ingrid is stuck spending her last dollars on beer and watching through binoculars as fun experiences happen a spitting distance away. Her final plea via video for help and understanding on Instagram before falling into the infinite void is the only thing that saves her. The predictable swelling social media response of people reacting to a cry for help validates how social media will solve her problems even though it’s only exacerbated them before. In the end social media is her savior but can your obsession really save you?
