Netflix is known for making bad movies, so when I saw the trailer for the Netflix Original “The Guilty” on TikTok, I was surprised to see that it looked promising. Even the TikTok commenters were shocked, with one of the top comments saying, “this actually looks like one of the best movies Netflix has ever made … so, a normal movie.” 

My hopes were high going into the movie but, while watching, I was quickly reminded why Netflix has a bad movie reputation in the first place.

“The Guilty” was released on Netflix on Oct. 1 featuring Jake Gyllenhaal as the main character, Joe Baylor. Joe is a 911 operator who was recently demoted from his position as a police officer for an unnamed reason. The movie starts with a few insignificant 911 calls before Joe answers the phone to a presumably-abducted woman named Emily (voiced by Riley Keough).

For the rest of the movie, Joe is on and off the phone with Emily, her ex-husband, her daughter and other dispatchers trying to get her home safe. He breaks protocol and makes impulsive decisions in a desperate attempt to save her, though his spontaneous actions lead to critical misunderstandings. During the call, the reason for Joe’s demotion is revealed along with other twists surrounding Emily’s abduction.

The movie’s plot and characters were hard to care about since Joe was portrayed as a hot-headed jerk with little reason for him to be acting that way. Furthermore, the movie was only filmed in the 911 call center, which made for a boring setting. COVID-19 influenced the singular setting since the movie was made during the height of the pandemic, so the set was limited on purpose. However, the movie would have benefitted from waiting a few years to be filmed so there could be multiple settings, making the scenes more entertaining and diverse.

I was hoping to see from Emily’s point of view as she was being abducted, but the camera rarely left the call center. In fact, the movie never showed what Emily, her daughter or ex-husband looked like. It was tiring to watch Joe the whole time, especially since he was an unlikeable character, even after his reasons for being rude and on-edge were revealed.

The script was also cliché and hardly believable at points. Keough’s voice acting sounded forced at times, and the cheesy dialogue didn’t help her character feel any more realistic. Gyllenhaal gave a decent performance, but that couldn’t save the dull script he was given. His character was one-dimensional and consistently unprofessional.

In the beginning, the movie hinted that a mysterious upcoming trial was making him on-edge, but that still didn’t feel like a good enough motive to justify his actions. Instead of gaining empathy for him, the viewer is continuously annoyed by his behavior.

The best part of the movie was the plot twist, and even that was underwhelming. The details of Emily’s abduction led Joe to assume one narrative, and the twist came when a totally different narrative was discovered to be the truth. Even though the twist was unexpected, the characters consistently felt unreal so the viewer is never invested in the story. The lack of character depth made the movie boring and a somewhat interesting plot twist didn’t change that.

The movie was also set in 2020 and included some timely events like the California wildfires and police brutality. The wildfires impacted some of the calls and added some uniqueness to the film, but the police brutality aspect seemed forced. There was little backstory to give depth to such a complex topic. It felt like the writers included it to garner more clicks on their film, not to bring awareness to the topic. 

Overall, I would not waste 90 minutes watching “The Guilty” due to its lackluster script and tedious setting. For those who love a good 911 call movie, I’d recommend “The Call” on Hulu and Netflix instead. That movie has a similar plotline, but is truly suspenseful and the acting is captivating. There is more gore and thrill to that film since the scenes cut between the 911 operator and the victim. It’s well thought-out and the characters feel likeable and real, which is far better than what “The Guilty” offers.

Edited by Elise Mulligan | emulligan@themaneater.com