Greener Grass review: Suburbia has never been funnier or more terrifying
Depending on who you ask, the idea of a suburban lifestyle can be a dream or worst nightmare. IFC’s Greener Grass mixes the two perspectives, yielding one of the year’s best horror comedies.
Greener Grass is the type of movie that sticks with you for a few days after watching it. Set in a picturesque slice of suburbia, Greener Grass pairs nerve-wracking, awkward tension with gut-busting comedy in a way I haven’t seen… maybe ever. This film is both disturbingly shocking, yet beautiful, in a way that traps you from looking away when you really, really want to.
From the minds of writer/director duo Jocelyn DeBoer and Dawn Luebbe, Greener Grass tells the story of two soccer moms (played by DeBoer and Luebbe) trapped in a never-ending game of passive-aggressively one-upping each other. The movie is full of hilarious skits and head-scratching bits that you have to see to believe.
DeBoer and Luebbe knock it out of the park in their first feature-length film. An adaptation of the duo’s 2016 SXSW Film Festival Award-winning short of the same name, Greener Grass invites viewers into a suburban hellscape where everyone wears pastels and dons a set of braces on their already perfectly straight teeth.
While nothing may seem out of the ordinary at the beginning of the flick, we quickly find out that there’s something truly wrong with the people of this community. After witnessing the way the people in this town interact with each other, you’re bound to be a little kinder to your neighbors albeit, at the same time, a bit more guarded.
Greener Grass was quickly snatched up by IFC late last winter after becoming one of Sundance Film Festival’s surprise hits. This film certainly isn’t for everyone, and is destined to become a midnight movie mainstay. If there ever was a formula or recipe to make a future cult classic, DeBoer and Luebbe must know what it is.
Featuring standout performances from Saturday Night Live‘s Beck Bennett, as DeBoer’s character’s husband Nick, and Glee‘s Dot-Marie Jones, as local eccentric Little Helen, Greener Grass is the type of independent film that reminds viewers that there’s more out there than just blockbusters and reboots.
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Greener Grass is playing in select theaters now and is available for rent on VOD.