According to Netflix, In Good Hands 2 is the follow-up to last year’s breakout hit In Good Hands no duh, it’s right there in the title but what does “breakout” mean? Did it crack the Netflix Top 10? Did people around the world watch this thing? Was it huge in Turkey? Who knows. But some Netflix algorithm determined enough people saw it to warrant a sequel even though the first movie killed off its main character (a single mom dying of cancer who tracks down her deadbeat ex and tells him he’s the bio dad of her six year old son). It was a watchable melodrama with some goofy twists, but not exactly recommendation worthy, so let’s hope this continuation rights that ship.
IN GOOD HANDS 2: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?
The Gist
Melisa died a year ago, and now her son and his dad live miserably ever after. Can (Mert Ege Ak) lives with Firat (Kaan Urgancioglu), and materially speaking, the kid has everything he could want well, almost everything, out back in Can’s elaborate backyard clubhouse, he’s building a time machine so he can go back in time and tell Mom he loves her in hopes that will cure her so she won’t die. This might be heartbreaking if it didn’t fall into capital-H Hokey Movie Premise territory, but we press on. So Can acts out at school while other kids tease him about his hair or whatever weird ’70s fashion choice they cooked up for him. Meanwhile Firat deals with his feelings by engaging in an unfunny running gag that involves drinking too much and waking up on somebody’s lawn in the morning. He loves Can! They have affection! The Kid just hasn’t called him Dad yet! And that’s OK!
So our two dudes are at a cafe one day when they meet Sezen (Melisa Pamuk). Well, actually let me rephrase that they’re being loud and annoying and she tells them off in a rather assholish manner that includes telling Can time machines don’t exist. That’s a bold introduction for what seems like a walk on hard ass pragmatist character, but people like this don’t just drop into movies then drop out. No, she shows up later when Firat is blackout drunk at a bar and she gets him out of there before he really embarrasses himself. They bond because he used to be like her, but now she’s sober; also, she’s sad because her brother went to college in America and if that’s not the same as losing the mother of your child to cancer I guess it’s close enough. Then Firat goes on a little date with Sezen and they take their clothes off at her place, where he sees a scar on her back scars, see? we all got ’em! and they share their sadnesses.
Meanwhile, we can’t help but wonder what’s up with Can when the screenplay isn’t interested in her, I mean, while Firat is going out drinking and dating and suchlike. Well, I think he’s being babysat by Melisa’s friend Fatos (Ezgi Senler), a character from the previous film who exists in this film to do whatever it needs her to do, because she apparently doesn’t have a job or a life of her own? At least she occasionally says almost-funny things. Anyway, Can isn’t so sure about letting a new mother figure into his life again, he’s just not there yet, and that’s understandable until the ridiculous scene where Sezen visits him at school and douses his bully with a hose. I mean, the bully just stands there and lets himself be drenched instead of, you know, moving out of the way. So Sezen’s winning over Can a bit. But what about Firat’s drinking, and his insecurity, and the mother issues the screenplay tosses in haphazardly? He’s got lots of stuff to work through, and one can’t help but wonder another thing Will this movie include the scene where the alcoholic participates in the ceremonial Dumping Of The Booze Bottles? NO SPOILERS but, yeah probably.
What Movies Will It Remind You Of?
I dunno people were wise enough not to make Terms of Adoration 2 or Sweet December or Dying Younger (or Dying Even Younger).
Performance Worth Watching: I liked Pamut’s performance in this movie her charismatic screen presence transcends the lackluster material at times but the hose scene (and frankly most of the third act) are too much of an uphill climb for anyone.
Memorable Dialogue: Can gets literal and metaphorical when he confronts Firat: “You stink when you drink.”
Sex and Skin: None really. The Revealing Of The Scars scene is very, very tame.
Our Take: The first movie had to drop in a whopper of an eyeroller of a soap operatic third-act twist, and the sequel follows the same formula. I didn’t buy any of this implausible, sentimental drippery, and neither will you. Prior to that, In Good Hands 2 showed good intentions, establishing a dynamic that emphasized character development over plot, enough to encourage us to weather irritating scenes of child precociousness and overexaggerated drunkenness. There were moments where Firat, Can and Sezen felt like real people with real problems instead of movie characters with contrived problems but ultimately director Ketche and writer Hakan Bonomo (who also collaborated on the first film) opt for bloated melodrama instead of anything resembling reality.
The movie might be trying to do too many things at once, blending romance with a father-son tale, delving into a subplot about substance abuse, gesturing toward and ultimately addressing Sezen’s trauma, introducing Firat’s mom for a couple scenes and doing whatever it is that Fatos does (which is basically nothing; her potential function as comic relief never pays off).
It’s laudable how Ketche aims for poignancy through comedy and drama, but seems unsure of how to get there. Is it supposed to be zany? Is it supposed to be sexy? Is it interested in thinking about grief, loss and redemption? Ostensibly about Firat working through his self-image as a good-enough parent, the film blurs this core idea and sabotages it with cliches (by the time you arrive at him giving a drunken speech at a birthday party, you’ll have checked out emotionally). Maybe going leaner would have helped, but In Good Hands 2 suffers from the same problem as its predecessor none of the parts add up to something you can sit down with.
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