Sightlines · reception

How The Gift was received

2015 · Joel Edgerton · The Gift on Sightlines

The arc

It arrived in August 2015 as a small Blumhouse-style stalker thriller, then became a sleeper hit with strong reviews and roughly $59M earned on a budget of about $5M. Now it's remembered as a sharp, adult chamber thriller that's smarter than its poster suggested, and as proof that Joel Edgerton could direct.

What’s debated

Fans keep arguing over who the real villain is, and over the ending's deliberate ambiguity about what actually happened.

Its footprint

'Gordo the Weirdo' became shorthand for a certain kind of unsettling, overly helpful acquaintance. The film is often cited as the moment Jason Bateman's nice-guy persona turned sour on screen.

Where it stands

An underseen gem that people recommend to each other, a 'trust me, just watch it' pick on Letterboxd lists of underrated 2010s thrillers.

Did you know? It was Joel Edgerton's feature directing debut. He also wrote the script and played Gordo himself.