Major spoilers ahead for Borderline
Samara Weaving and Ray Nicholson star in this new home invasion thriller about an obsessive stalker who deludes himself into thinking he is set to marry '90s pop star Sofia (Weaving). After breaking out of jail, Paul Duerson (Nicholson) assembles a motley crew of criminals to help him hunt down Sofia and make his dreams come true.
Now available on VOD, Borderline is an entertaining and surprisingly hilarious film from Cocaine Bear writer Jimmy Warden in his directorial debut.
Set in the 1990s, Borderline makes the most of its premise as we follow Paul's crazy plan to marry Sofia despite her having no idea who he is. His delusion stems from a tragic accident that happened during one of Sofia's concerts where his girlfriend died.
The movie opens with Paul's first attempt at finding Sofia, a night that ended with him proposing to her bodyguard, Bell (Eric Dane), believing him to be the pop star. William is shown appeasing Paul to calm him down and takes a knife to the gut for his efforts. Paul later confesses and is subsequently arrested. The movie then picks up years later when he's escaped and returned to finish what he started.
Paul and Sofia's unorthodox wedding
At the end of the movie, Paul finally manages to get (most) of the pieces of his plan into position. He's kidnapped Bell's family, forcing his daughter, Abby (Yasmeen Kelders) to be the flower girl. His accomplice, a man named J.H. (Patrick Cox), is in attendance as his best man.
The only problem is that Paul has, yet again, mistaken someone else for Sofia. He thinks Sofia's boyfriend, Rhodes (Jimmy Fails), is his bride-to-be, to the point that Rhodes plays along and dons the wedding dress and everything. Even when Sofia and J.H. try to convince Paul that she's Sofia, Paul refuses to listen. Not wanting to confuse him, they all just let the ceremony proceed with Rhodes as the bride.
However, just like with Bell at the beginning, Paul stabs Rhodes afterward. That's when everyone springs into action. A fight ensues, with J.H. taking Abby hostage as "leverage." Bell tries to convince him to release his daughter, but it ends up being unnecessary as Rhodes recovers enough to spring into action and slit J.H.'s throat from behind.
Amid the chaos, the police are called and Paul is finally arrested. But in his his mind, he sees himself having a beautiful wedding with Sofia on his arm.
The final sequence shows Paul in the back of the police car. He thinks he's in a limousine, chatting happily to Sofia about honeymoon plans. In reality, the credits roll with a medium close-up on Nicholson giving us his best Mia Goth, showing him veering between smiling and tearing up for several minutes straight. The implication seems to be that Paul is vacillating between his dream world and reality, as he's clearly a disturbed guy unsure of exactly what's happening around him.
For a thriller, Borderline has a surprisingly low death count. Only Paul's buddies, Penny (Alba Baptista) and JH actually die. Even Bell survives almost getting shot in the head and Rhodes also makes it out alive despite being stabbed. Sofia suggests they give their relationship a real chance (earlier in the film, Rhodes finds a document revealing their relationship was orchestrated as a PR thing), as she tries to make amends for everything.
Borderline is now available to rent or buy on VOD.