After fluking their way through a successful convenience store robbery, on the lam couple Mickey (Bill Skarsgard) and Jules (Maika Monroe) hit a patch of bad luck when their escape vehicle runs out of gas a couple of hundred feet from a house in the woods, in which they discover a chained up child and a, well, villainous married couple who move to give them an education in menace over the course of a brisk 89 minutes. "Villains" hinges on the ability of its small cast to execute the hilarious moments of awkwardness and bad timing that keep its characters' battles of wits (minor as Mickey and Jules' may be) trucking along. Fortunately, Bill Skarsgard and Maika Monroe are more than equipped for the task of making their roles equally sympathetic and hilarious, whether they're extracting each others piercings or hatching hare-brained schemes to escape their entrapment. The standout performer, however, is Jeffrey Donovan, a charming, drawling antagonist who manages to maintain an aura of danger even as he goes for the movie's biggest laughs. Ultimately, "Villains" isn't quite as outrageous or extreme as it might have been ("Cheap Thrills" is in the clear on that front) but it never wears out its welcome and navigates a route to an ending that works well without being too unrealistic. Recommended.
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