The Wave (2019 film)

The Wave is a 2019 American science fiction thriller film directed by Gille Klabin and distributed by Epic Pictures.

The Wave
Film poster
Directed by	Gille Klabin
Written by	Carl W. Lucas
Produced by	Joshua Bunting
Starring	Justin Long Donald Faison Sheila Vand Katia Winter Sarah Minnich Ronnie Gene Blevins Bill Sage Tommy Flanagan
Cinematography	Aaron Grasso
Edited by	Lana Wolverton
Music by	Angie Lee Cobbs
Release date	September 23, 2019 (2019-09-23) (Fantastic Fest)
Running time	87 minutes
Language	English
Box office	$8,101

Plot

Frank, an insurance lawyer, finds disqualifying information in the $4M insurance policy of a fireman who died from a heart attack. His co-worker Jeff invites him to celebrate the night before his presentation to the company board, which he eventually accepts after a tense evening with his wife.

The two men visit club El Madrid where Frank briefly meets a homeless man bathing in the bathroom sink. Frank and Jeff share drinks with two women, Natalie and Theresa, and the four of them go to a house party where Frank and Theresa are offered a hallucinogen by a man named Aeolus.

Theresa administers the drug to Frank with a kiss, causing him to instantly black out and wake up alone the next morning. As Frank attempts to make sense of his situation and find his wallet, a family enters the house and calls the police on him, as he runs out the back door. Frank makes it back to his house without any money by convincing a passing cab driver to take him home for a much larger fare. At home, he argues with his wife Cheryl about the smell of perfume on his shirt as he hastily dresses for work.

Upon slamming a bedroom door to protect himself from an alarm clock thrown by Cheryl, Frank discovers he's been transported to his office, where he is greeted by Jeff and escorted to the board meeting. Frank presents the insurance claim information to a happy board, but is immediately met with disturbing visions of the board reacting demonically to the $4M policy denial. He goes to the bathroom to throw up, and agrees with Jeff that he is likely still high.

Cheryl calls him and chews him out because all of their accounts have been emptied. Frank's boss tells Jeff to take him home but the pair instead go back to the club in an attempt to find Aeolus (and Frank's wallet). The bartender who served them does not start their shift until later, so the two decide to wait till then to find out information on the girls they were with. While Jeff naps, Frank discovers he cannot charge his phone in Jeff's car and slaps the dash in frustration, suddenly turning the day to night.

At night, Natalie shows up and the men team up with her as she says she knows the drug dealer that was working the party. The trio attempt to leave in Jeff's car but it does not start. While waiting for the car to move, Frank witnesses an accident and goes to help, but his consciousness is teleported away just as he is hit by another car. He finds himself next to Theresa in an ethereal field, where they talk about looking for each other. Quickly afterwards, he is teleported back into Jeff's car as it stops in front of the dealer's house.

Inside the residence, the trio learn that the guy Natalie knew, Richie, is not Aeolus. They are about to leave to leave when Richie notices Frank is tripping, and offers him a multitude of drugs that could bring him down. While the others go to the car, Frank agrees to take the drugs and starts hallucinating as Richie is asking him about the drug he took. In his confused state, Frank grabs and consumes as many of Richie's drugs as he can. He immediately blasts away to a mythical place, where Theresa explains that the universe is always trying to achieve balance.

Frank snaps back to reality inside the car with Jeff and Natalie as they are being shot at by Richie and his guard Lamont for stealing the drugs. Richie takes them back to his place where Lamont ties up Jeff and Natalie and beats Frank. Frank calls Cheryl to get money from her parents but she hangs up. Fed up, Richie is about to shoot Natalie when Frank slams his phone on the floor and snaps back to the party the previous night. He immediately finds Aeolus and sits down with him, also discovering his wallet. After talking with Aeolus, Frank transports to outside the club the next afternoon and makes a deal with the homeless man. He then transports back to Richie's, where the homeless man from El Madrid shows up with $240,000 in cash from Frank's bank accounts and a new mortgage on his house. Richie and Lamont are in shock - Frank has done all this by traveling in time - but they accept the money anyway and release the trio.

Jeff drives Natalie back to El Madrid where they find Theresa, who is now a completely different person. Frank is transported to the previous day at work where he is asked to fill out paperwork for a $4M life insurance policy attached to his promotion. Finally realizing the universe's message, he makes the fireman's widow the beneficiary of his policy. His boss sees the policy before Frank is able to mail it and threatens to fire him if he does not change it. Frank disregards the threat and time travels again, this time back to the accident outside of the El Madrid club the night before. He walks towards it to help and is hit by the intoxicated driver from before, who is actually his boss. When the police arrive on the scene, they find Richie's drugs in the trunk of his car.

Though Frank ends up deceased on the hood of the car, his consciousness wakes up lying next to the original Theresa again.

Cast

• Tommy Flanagan as Aeolus
• Justin Long as Frank
• Sheila Vand as Theresa
• Donald Faison as Jeff
• Katia Winter as Natalie
• Bill Sage as Jonas
• Sarah Minnich as Cheryl
• Ronnie Gene Blevins as Ritchie
• Carl W. Lucas as Big Jesus

Critical reception

The film received mixed to positive reviews from critics. As of October 2021, the film holds a 67% approval rating on the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, based on 36 reviews with an average rating of 5.8/10. The website's critics consensus reads: "Much like its addled protagonist, The Wave struggles to stay on target, but Justin Long's performance helps this pleasantly offbeat sci-fi fantasy find its way."

External links

• The Wave at IMDb