Written, directed by, and starring Jake Johnson, Self Reliance is a little bit of a mind trip. I went into this movie hoping it wouldn’t be awful. I’m still not sure what to think of it.

Tommy (Johnson) is a man who is stuck in life. When he gets an invitation to participate in a game where he has to avoid being murdered for 30 days, he agrees to play. However, there is a big loophole. The hunters can only attempt to kill him when he is alone.

This is another movie where I kept expecting some sort of twist ending. There are suggestions that maybe Tommy is making this whole thing up for attention or maybe he’s having a mental breakdown. Even at the end, we can’t really be sure that we aren’t inside Tommy’s mind. Does this make it a good movie? Well, yes and no. Yes in that it does keep you watching the movie to see where it’s going to go. But also no because the movie is listed as a Comedy Thriller and it doesn’t really contain either. I literally said “Huh” out loud as the credits rolled. I was hoping that maybe there was a mid-credit or end-credit scene that would help explain what just happened. There isn’t. I honestly don’t know if I can recommend Self Reliance. It’s weird in a way that you kinda have to experience it and hope you haven’t wasted your time.

Rating: C