Ingrid Goes West

Ingrid (Plaza) leads a lonely life, latching on to 'friends' on Instagram and other social media sites. When she is released from therapy Ingrid quickly falls back into her old ways: Instagram 'influencer' Taylor (Olsen) catches her eye and so Ingrid makes for California, renting a house from Batman fanatic Dan (Jackson Jnr) and sets about ingratiating herself into Taylor's life (kidnapping her dog and then 'finding' it)…

"If you don't have someone to share it with what's the point in living?" Writer-director Matt Spicer delivers his feature debut that surprises not only in content but in that it's taken until now for Hollywood to explore the subject. With more and more lives increasingly lived online and in the vacuum of social media, what passes for connection and attachment and friendship has been redefined. Reality too: if it isn't posted it hasn't happened. Spicer avoids the clichés and easy shots by ensuring the audience will feel sorry for Plaza's Ingrid: this isn't Single White Female of The Fan psycho stuff - this is more the sympathetic approach of The Cable Guy. Ingrid just desperately wants to belong, to have a friend, to experience the life she sees lived by everyone on Instagram.

But it's all fake. As Ingrid worms her way into Taylor's life she finds that it's not all sunsets and parties and beautiful clothes. She's usurped as Taylor's BFF when an artist with a million followers rides into town, and Taylor’s luddite husband Ezra (Russell) wonders what happened to the woman he fell in love with. Spicer also includes Taylor’s unhinged brother Nicky (a wonderful Billy Magnussen), a narcissist with the perfect body and empty heart. Ingrid's journey is to see that her landlord Dan could actually be the path to her happiness… but Spicer undercuts this expectation too and things get very dark indeed as it hurtles towards its surprising climax.

Plaza won't get an Oscar nomination for her portrayal because the Academy doesn't nominate roles in films like this but the former Parks and Recreations star doesn't put a foot wrong here. She occupies a delicate balance between desperation, loneliness and the ability to do some serious damage to those she feels have wronged her. How her face lights up when a comment of hers is liked and the depression when it's ignored – it’s not easy to predict which way she's going to go. O’Shea Jackson Jnr., last seen playing his scowling father Ice Cube in Straight Outta Compton, does an about face, showing he can play the charming next door neighbour and love interest.