I might have caught one or two episodes of Survivor. I never understood the appeal of the show. However, Survivor is still popular, going on twenty-six years and 50 seasons as of this writing. Send Help has one of its characters deeply fascinated by Survivor, which may explain part of why the premise went as it did. However, Send Help is not original. It is as if someone blended Triangle of Sadness and Misery.
Seemingly meek corporate drone Linda Liddle (Rachel McAdams) does all the hard work only to see men like Donavan (Xavier Samuel) take the credit and the promotion. Despite an off-screen promise from her late boss, Linda is not given an executive promotion by that boss' successor and son, Bradley Preston (Dylan O'Brien). Bradley is a bit of a nepo baby, engaged to the beautiful Zury (Edyll Ismael) and more interested in his golf than in the corporation. He also has decided that Donavan will get the job. Preston executive Franklin (Dennis Haysbert in basically a cameo) advises him to keep the late Mr. Preston's promise. Seeing how slovenly, meek and frankly disheveled Linda is, however, Bradley balks.
Still, she is needed and goes with Bradley, Donavan and another man to Bangkok. On the plane, Donavan shows the other men Linda's failed Survivor audition tape. They openly laugh at the footage, but a sudden storm causes the plane to crash into the ocean. The next morning, Linda finds herself a literal survivor. She eventually finds Bradley washed up on the shore, alive but injured. It is now where Linda's Survivor skills kick into high gear. It is also here where the power dynamics shift.
Bradley slowly recovers from his leg injury. He is displeased at how good Linda is at being Robinson Crusoe to his incompetence. He has some right to be displeased given how Linda tortures him physically and psychologically. They become the ultimate frenemies. More twists and turns take place between them. Some are almost murderous. Their interactions are nothing compared to what Linda has in store for Zuri, who unexpectedly shows up. Who will live and who will die on the island? Will the mystery of what is beyond the rocks that form an X reveal unexpected comforts? Who will triumph in the end?
I saw Send Help with my cousin. He is the one who pointed out the similarity between Send Help and Misery, one of his and my late aunt's favorite films. It was later that I thought of how Send Help also draws from Triangle of Sadness. I have no way of knowing if screenwriters Mark Swift and Damian Shannon drew inspiration from any of those films. My guess is that they drew more inspiration from Survivor than from Misery, Triangle of Sadness or perhaps Cast/Swept Away (for full disclosure I as of this writing not seen either Cast Away or either version of Swept Away). As I left Send Help, I was very uncomfortable with its ending.
I have rarely if ever warmed to a film where the villain wins. My first thought after finishing Send Help was that it was like Misery if Annie Wilkes had won. Linda Liddle is not a good person. Right from the start, she is intrusive, clingy and slovenly. I think we are meant to see her as quirky, maybe endearing. I found her more like Selina Kyle in Batman Returns, only more annoying than put-upon. The old "man taking credit for all the work a woman does" bit is old hat. Why she opted to put a Post-it sticker with her name on the report rather than type it onto the page one can guess at. My guess: it was to show how Donavan could easily remove it and thus, take credit for something that he did not do. Presumably, everyone knew that Linda did the work. However, no one seems to think that Donavan getting the credit would not work.
She attempts to invite herself to an after-hours karaoke group by mentioning her favorite go-to song, Blondie's One Way or Another. I found her song selection, which ends Send Help, a bit too on-the-nose about her supposed triumph over all those evil men pushing her down. Moreover, in a curious bit, I wondered about her cockatiel. Before she leaves for Bangkok, we see Linda's sole companion is her parakeet. Presumably, she has no friends or family. She was stranded on the island for perhaps a week, maybe longer.
Who fed the bird? We are meant to think that the cockatiel that she leaves with at the end of Send Help is the same one that she had before she left on her ill-fated flight. I think that bird would have been dead by the time she returned.
One of his major objections early on is on her appearance. It should be noted that Linda openly eats at her desk. She also has bits of food (tuna if I remember correctly) on her face. If she is so slovenly to not care about her appearance in an office setting, how would she work at the executive level? If she makes it clear that she does not care about how she looks or comes across, how would she interact with high-level officials? Linda's manner would make potential clients wary of hiring the Preston financial management group. Bradley might be a nepo baby, but he also knows that how one presents themselves reflects on his company.
As a side note, I do not know if director Sam Raimi opted to deliberately echo Office Space with Donavan's appearance. I genuinely expected someone to comment how he looked like Gary Cole's Bill Lumbergh. To be fair, Donavan does have a touch of American Psycho's Patrick Bateman in him, though that might just be my interpretation.
There is also the question about Linda's Survivor audition tape. What we were shown was silly and made Linda look both desperate and ridiculous. It did not look like a serious effort to get on the show. It looked like someone making a fool out of themselves. I think most anyone who came upon Linda's Survivor audition tape would have laughed. It has been years since I have seen American Idol. However, people still laugh at the cringeworthy failed auditions. Why would this be any different?
Are we also meant to ignore how Linda murdered up to four people? One she killed prior to the events of Send Help if we go by the screenplay. A scene where it is implied that Linda will castrate Preston is the equivalent to Annie Wilkes' maiming of Paul Sheldon. Granted, I knew that she was not actually castrating Bradley. However, that whole scene should have made people turn against Linda, not towards her. Did I mention how she is essentially a serial killer?
My moral compass has not shifted to a level where I can cheer on someone who kills and ends up triumphant.
The more I think of it, the more I reject Send Help's premise. I do not think that, given the situation, that Bradley and/or Linda would have behaved the way that they did.
In terms of acting, I think both Rachel McAdams and Dylan O'Brien did well. I have been a longtime O'Brien champion. His Bradley Preston kept a pretty solid balance between entitled and desperate. McAdams played the part correctly as this needy woman who turns more psychotic.
I was not convinced by the ending. Apart from having our murderess win, I never believed that Bradley would not have discovered the island's great secret so late in the game. I also was a bit puzzled on Zuri's fate. Not so much on what happened to her. More of how she ended up where she did. I found it to be one of those "something will happen if the plot requires it to" moments.
I know Send Help is getting high praise. I figure many people enjoyed it. I left Send Help initially not loving it but not hating it. I still do not hate it. I just found myself liking it less and less. McAdams and O'Brien make Send Help tolerable viewing. Send Help, to my mind, is a strong contender for the most overrated film of 2026.
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