The Weekend Away – Netflix Review (3/5)

THE WEEKEND AWAY on Netflix is a new mystery thriller starring Leighton Meester, who is very good in it. While the plot feels a bit forced at times, it is never boring. The movie is based on a novel. Read our full The Weekend Away movie review here!

THE WEEKEND AWAY is a new Netflix mystery thriller with very wide appeal. It could have been made as a much darker crime-thriller than it ultimately is. However, the core plot is something I would expect many can relate to. Though hopefully never come close to experiencing.

The Netflix crime-thriller stars Leighton Meester, who delivers one hell of a performance. She is as natural and believable as the plot is forced at times. Still, the 89-minute runtime never gets boring or has dull moments.

Continue reading our The Weekend Away movie review below and find it on Netflix now.

A great role for Leighton Meester

The star of The Weekend Away is Leighton Meester as Beth. She lives in London with her husband and their very young daughter, Aster, who is still just a baby. However, Beth’s best friend, Kate, recently got divorced and convinces Beth to join her for a “weekend away” in Croatia. Yes, hence the title.

While Beth is wanting to enjoy spending time with her best friend and relaxing a bit, Kate is all about he party scene. After a night out, Beth wakes up with a massive hangover, few memories of the night before and no Kate in sight.

Now, she has to try and recreate the previous night to find out what happened to Kate. Of course, the police are very little help and overall, she is met with distain for being a “party girl” (despite the fact that she really isn’t) and to just take it easy.

Leighton Meester is really good as Beth. She plays the character as a very laidback and positive person, who does find her fighting spirit very fast, when met with various challenges. You’ll probably recognize Leighton Meester from the Gossip Girl series or maybe the 2011 thriller The Roommate.

In The Weekend Away, Meester is very bare-faced and natural, which serves as perfect contrast to the Kate character. Kate is played equally well by Christina Wolfe (Batwoman), who has a lot less screen time for obvious reasons.

Everybody’s a suspect!

In many ways, The Weekend Away is a classic “whodunnit”. Everybody is a suspect and you will probably be thinking “It’s him!” or “She’s definitely involved!” while watching. Also, various characters will probably be making these outbursts, which does almost force you to think along the same lines.

The way the plot evolves in this Netflix thriller, I did find myself thinking: Well, this piece of the puzzle could obviously have been solved early on. If anyone actually did their job right or stopped to think for a minute, anyway.

Also, when everything seems to be resolved around 70 minutes into the movie, you know it isn’t over. With a good 20 minutes left of the runtime, there are obviously more twists on the horizon. Either that or you’re in for a very long and slow final act, which wouldn’t suit the style of The Weekend Away.

Watch The Weekend Away on Netflix now!

Kim Farrant is the director of The Weekend Away and does a very solid job. The is a lot of story to cover in a relatively short amount of time. You may be familiar with Kim Farrant’s previous work if you’ve watched the 2015 thriller-mystery Strangerland starring Nicole Kidman, Joseph Fiennes, and Hugo Weaving.

As mentioned earlier, The Weekend Away is based on a novel. The novel was written by Sarah Alderson who also wrote the screenplay for this adaptation. That is usually a good thing when done right. Also, Sarah Alderson has been a staff writer on the S.W.A.T. series, so she isn’t new to writing scripts.

Since I haven’t read the book, I can’t tell you how close of an adaption it is, but it does work as a solid story.

Actually, it has a distinct Harlan Coben vibe and could possibly have worked better as a series. Especially since it could then have been less forced. And this one does suffer from having a lot of twists and turns in a very short runtime. For me, The Weekend Away is still better than some of the Harlan Coben adaptions.

Overall, for entertainment value (and a kick-ass Leighton Meester), this Netflix thriller is worth checking out.

The Weekend Away is out on Netflix from March 3, 2022.

Details

Director: Kim Farrant
Writer: Sarah Alderson
Cast: Leighton Meester, Christina Wolfe, Ziad Bakri, Luke Norris, Amar Bukvic