A familiar precocious young face is now adorning the Netflix home screen, but this time, Noah Schnapp is not exactly playing the loveable Will Byers from Stranger Things. In The Tutor, the scares are not coming from the Upside Down. They’re coming from Schnapp himself as an affluent student with an eerie affect.
The Gist: Ethan (Garrett Hedlund) works the tutoring circuit for the wealthy teens of the tristate area. He and his girlfriend Annie (Victoria Justice) are expecting a child, so he’s trying to bank enough money to get them financially set for a bit. A $2,500 a day for summer tutor gig with Jackson (Noah Schnapp) seems to good to pass up, even if it does require a one-week live-in trial period away from New York City.
The vibes are off almost immediately as Jackson won’t tell Ethan what his dad does and can’t commit to a single story about why his mom is no longer in the picture. The student pushes the tutor into a series of increasingly strange mind games that succeed in their goal of unnerving Ethan. But it soon becomes clear that this is more than just a precocious jaded teen acting out when Ethan finds pictures of himself and Annie on Jackson’s computer. Jackson might need help with his own schoolwork, but he proves quite adept at making Ethan flunk the course of his own life. Ethan eventually decides to stand up for himself, but it’s not without a significant cost.
What Movies Will It Remind You Of?: A creepy, manipulative kid trying to turn a couple against each other? Big Orphan Energy, though it quickly becomes a riff on Gaslight as Jackson’s duplicity becomes more apparent.
Performance Worth Watching: Noah Schnapp’s having a good time here straddling a line between coddled and coiled, creepy and campy.
Memorable Dialogue: “Each student’s journey has its own unique reward,” Ethan offers as his closing line in the film. Whether that’s intended sincerely or ironically is something that will make more sense after hearing everything that came before it.
Sex and Skin: In academic terms, The Tutor has enough to get you sent to the principal’s office – some people undressing glimpsed in photo negatives, a stripped in the background – but probably not enough for expulsion.
Our Take: The Tutor is like a class you’ve already sat through but only paid half attention during. Some of the developments might feel new, but you’ll quickly realize it’s nothing you haven’t seen or heard before. Neither Schnapp nor Hedlund brings any significant spark of intelligence to their characters, making their battle of will feel rather low stakes. There’s one significant turn at the end of the narrative that reframes a lot of what comes before, yet it feels like more of a cheap cop-out than a twist that’s been braided throughout.
Our Call: SKIP IT. The Tutor makes the grade … a barely passing one. Formulas are what Ethan should be helping Jackson study, not what the film should make the audience endure. It’s not worth enrolling, even if it’s never actively bad or annoying.
Marshall Shaffer is a New York-based freelance film journalist. In addition to Decider, his work has also appeared on Slashfilm, Slant, The Playlist and many other outlets. Some day soon, everyone will realize how right he is about Spring Breakers.