By Becca Johnson - March 4, 2025
A directorial debut from Tom Carroll, The Stress is Killing Me is a light, breezy comedy centering on a group of friends at their 20th college reunion. Starring April Hartman (One of These Days) and Grayson Berry (How to Blow Up a Pipeline), the eight friends take a house for the week and decide to try doing their dream jobs: teacher, detective, sex therapist, instead of their boring jobs. Of course, their dreams jobs all go hilariously wrong.
Competently acted with good use of its single location, The Stress is Killing Me presents a fun idea, but fails to inject the comedy needed to execute it well.
The best element of The Stress is Killing Me is the cast. The performances aren’t exactly the most memorable or noteworthy of the year so far, but every single actor has the charisma and charm needed to help carry the movie. The line delivery is on point, the comedic timing is there and the friendship between them all is quite believable. They truly do seem like a group of individuals who haven’t seen each other for years, and watching them reminisce and realize they’re all quite unsatisfied with their careers feels natural. Carly Christopher is an easy standout as Kiki, a wannabe yoga instructor who is crushing hard on another member of the group. Grayson Berry also impresses as Jason, the love interest of Kiki who has quite a troubled love life himself. Seeing all the characters live their dreams for the week does allow for some fun, and it’s plain to see that the cast were having an absolute blast whilst filming. The energy levels are high, which helps The Stress is Killing Me work as best as it can.
The majority of the movie is set in one location, as the group of friends hire out a house for the week. At first glance, the house is pretty nice, and the filmmaking team ensures to make the most of the single location. One of our characters takes up her dream of painting overlooking a gorgeous view outside, whilst others sequester themselves to their bedroom for lesson planning and the kitchen to learn to cook. The simplistic plot takes us around the entire house, ensuring every bedroom and outside space is used, creating a more engaging viewing experience for the audience. The sun is shining and the cinematography is bright, giving the movie an immersive summertime feel. The location itself isn’t much to write home about, but it’s what the team do with it that really elevates it. The rest of the filmmaking on display is just fine. Carroll shows solid direction, whilst the editing and cinematography are unremarkable. The music supervision is pretty poor, with many of the tunes coming off as gimmicky and childlike. It relies too heavily on its music to invoke the required emotion from the audience, which winds up corny rather than impactful.
Unfortunately, the script ultimately prevents The Stress is Killing Me from working, as it falls at the first hurdle - it just isn’t funny. Sure, the cast have bundles of charm and do their best with the material given, but what they’re given to work with just isn’t up to the mark. Jokes don’t land, characters ‘quirky’ personalities traits are dumb and cringe-worthy rather than funny and the hijinks that ensure aren’t nearly as hilarious as the premise promises.
One of our characters wants to be a detective - the mystery that presents itself to the group? A missing vibrator. The character who wishes to be a teacher spends hours creating a lesson plan to deliver to the gang, only for her friends to throw things across the ‘classroom’, zone out and behave like unruly kids. The further the run-time progresses, the less humorous our characters and their dream jobs become. To put it plainly - the humor is juvenile. Humour aside, the romance beats don’t work as they feel too instant with a lack of chemistry, and the message of chasing your dreams doesn’t work as the characters suck at their chosen careers for the week. It lacks the depth needed to help it stick the landing.
The Stress is Killing Me may have minor appeal towards some audience members due to the relatability of hating your job and wishing you took a different path. The cast try their best, the location is utilised well and for a low budget, it is made as engaging as it can be. Unfortunately, a movie of this ilk hinges on its script, and the writing completely lets it down. With no romantic chemistry, dire attempts at humour and a lack of poignancy in the ending, The Stress is Killing Me falls flat by the end.
Coming to digital platforms March 7
Comments