Central Park (2020)

 

Six friends at a private school head into Central Park to party. Only two of them have personalities, such as they are. Mikey is rethinking his partying after getting caught being high in class. The cool teacher tells him he has potential and gives Mikey his cell number. Then there’s Harold who is dealing with public humiliation when his father is on the front page of all the papers being charged with running a Ponzi scheme, akin to Bernie Madoff. 

The teens decide to go to Central Park to party. I don’t know how much weed and booze they have, but they arrive during daylight and it’s way after dark by the time things start getting weird.  There is someone else in the park and he’s not there to relax or party. He’s got murder on his mind.  

After one of the kids is killed, the others ask why would anyone kill him?  Uh I don’t know. Maybe because you’re in Central Park at night. I don’t even live in New York and I know not to go there at night.  I live in a small city and even here, a park at night is not a place to go, which is actually a really sad comment on society.

There is an intersecting storyline involving the cool teacher going for a bike ride and not coming home.  His wife freaks out and calls... someone. Who is he? Is he her father? Her former boyfriend?  It takes quite a while to figure it out.  He looks old enough to be her dad, but apparently he’s a former flame.  And who calls their ex for a favor after not speaking to them in over a year to ask them to look for your current partner Yes, he’s a cop but holy cow, so awkward. Yah so if you could just come by, pick em up, and then drive me around so maybe I can spot my husband somewhere. Argh!!!

Also if you give your character a skateboard, make sure he can ride it.  All I’m asking for is a minimum of competence.  He just needs to be able to push along without looking awkward and balance once it gets going. It’s such a small thing to ask.  If he can’t do it, then ditch the skateboard, especially when it’s not a plot point later on.  It’s like they had a meeting and said, what is this characters personality?  Oh he rides a skateboard.

And if none of those things are enough to drive you away, prepare to be very confused about the ending.  I have no idea what the ending means. I don’t know what this character is doing, or where he is going, or if he’s even going to drop dead from being shot in the chest.  But he’s walking okay so maybe it’s just a flesh wound, even though the police earlier thought he was dead... the police who shot him... the police who were going to cover up the shooting by saying he attacked one of the kids. Damn it, stop covering stuff up!