The Oath (2018) desperately needed a Ref

Tiffany Haddish has another pop culture outing. If you aren’t watching her show on TBS, checking out her Groupon ads or watching GIFs dedicated to the new Queen of Comedy…this might be a shock to you. Dangerously dancing into the realm of 2004 era Jude Law overexposure, somehow Haddish is a winner in this film. She does by not trying to overshadow the main story. The Oath feels a lot like The Ref. It’s hard comparing tone across the decades, but the film is very much cut from the same cloth. Yet, this movie reaches for the top ring and spends the rest of the movie eating dirt to get there. However, no one gets to balance things out in the Denis Leary role. We have a ton of Spacey and Davis supporting figures bopping around for their scenes. Then, there’s the matter of the pseudo late 70s dark humor Political Dystopia plot. That’s right, kids. The Oath refers to a Patriotism pledge that the entire nation is being forced to sign the day after Thanksgiving. Now, families get to meet for a final meal before having to declare their servitude to America. Some right-wingers enjoy getting to put their love for Uncle Sam on display. Others just want to do whatever it takes to get back to normal. Then, there are the people who think everyone else has lost their minds. Serving as Ike Barinholtz’s theatrical feature directing debut, the mistakes are minimal. He gets the best out of his cast and lofty central concept. However, the overwhelming weight of everything happening at once causes this 90 minute movie to feel stuffed. Honestly, I would have loved to see this concept get a 6 episode mini-series on HBO. Not everything has to be a dour drama about dead kids and West Coast Upper Class women. Fill that dark humor void. DO IT!

The Oath is opening wider this weekend.