In order to enjoy “You’re Killing Me,” you have to stop caring about who’s killing who. There is an urgency that holds on to your attention somewhat, but all that happens is predictable, and you watch the entire film with a straight face. It has the aspects of a thriller but doesn’t provide the vibe. Here’s more on it:
Spoilers Ahead
Plot Synopsis: What Happens In ‘You’re Killing Me’?
Eden has been shortlisted for her dream school, Penbrook. To make it through, she asks another guy in her class, Schroder, if his father, a congressman, can write a letter of recommendation. The guy is a traditional spoilt brat who ignores her completely. Meanwhile, an investigation is ongoing in search of another girl in the class, Melissa Brown, who has gone missing.
Eden decides to try a second time and takes her best friend Zara to a party at Schroder’s place to try to convince him to speak to his father. It is at this party that she finds crucial evidence regarding Melissa’s disappearance that she has to provide to the authorities as soon as she can. She finds Gooch’s phone, which contains a video of Gooch, Schroder, and Kendra being with Melissa on the night she disappeared. Schroder runs Melissa over with his car and then he and Kendra throw her body off a bridge. If the video gets into the hands of the authorities, Schroder’s father’s career will be compromised big time. What follows is a rather bloody struggle between Eden and Schroder for the phone. Who will emerge victorious? “You’re killing me,” is the answer.
Killing Caricatures
“You’re Killing Me” has nothing more than meets the eye. What you see is all there is to it. Though the characters are different, thankfully, they are recognizable caricatures that we have come across in many other thrillers like this. Schroder is the leader of the pack for being the least sane. Gooch is the vulnerable one who tries to sort out the matter and is mocked by the leader. And Kendra, the woman, who apparently takes pleasure in harming others, especially women [although we do not see her do it, we can assume from the way she carries herself and the knife (the cringe!) with which she almost attacks Zara towards the end of the film]. It is just ridiculous how she seems to be all brave and ready to kill, and it only takes her one look at blood to start crying like a baby and say that she doesn’t want to die. She is a pseudo-bully. Then we have Zara, who doesn’t believe what Eden is telling her. Just because the video shows Melissa in Schroder’s car doesn’t imply that they know something about Melissa’s disappearance if they aren’t responsible for it. Somebody needs to explain to Zara why Schroder and Kendra are so desperate to take the phone back. Only after she sees the video, towards the end of the film, does she realize that Eden was right all along. Finally, we have the parents of Schroder, who try to bribe Eden and her father so that they don’t take the evidence to the authorities. This is another cliché caricature of the rich using their power to get away with their crimes, which is very true to life. But then again, Eden aims to utilize Schroder’s father’s power to get into her dream school, which kind of makes her character dodgy until and unless we compare her to the others. It is these characters who make her seem righteous, if not conscientious. If you are wondering about the significance of the title, there are two ways to look at it. The first way, the traditional one, is that the title signifies, as it should, the plot in which someone is killing or trying to kill someone else. The weapon of choice swings between “you” and “me.” Or for the uninitiated, and maybe that’s a good thing considering this film, the title is just the makers trying to be philosophical, if not contemplative, and thus overstating.
‘You’re Killing Me’ Ending Explained – Does Eden Find Out What Happened To Melissa?
She does. But after the revelation of the video, Eden, her father, and Zara are drugged by Schroder and his parents, who then put them in a car and roll it into a river. Schroder also stabs Gooch in the neck and puts him in the car as well. Kendra is already dead owing to the fatal stab wound in her waist, which resulted from the knife she had in her hand after she fell from the window of the room on the first floor in which Eden and Zara were. Eden and Zara somehow avoid drowning. Zara is against going back to Schroder’s house, but Eden is angry. After all, her father is dead because of them. So she returns to the house, kills Schroder’s father with an axe, and electrocutes his mother in the bathtub. Zara is the one who returns and saves Eden by hitting Schroder in the head with the butt of a rifle before he can harm Eden; he dies of the wound. So ultimately, it’s all about Eden getting her revenge, though a bit of the credit goes to Zara as well.
That “You’re Killing Me” is a thriller is what does the ending justice and nothing more. There is no catharsis as such since there is no positive emotional reaction from Eden that we see. A painful scream (from Eden when Schroder hits her father with an axe) barely counts as an emotional reaction worthy of catharsis. If anything, the film carries the message that doing the right thing doesn’t always provide a happy ending and that revenge is more often than not futile, if not always. Eden is left with perhaps the worst experience of her life and without a father. Overall, “You’re Killing Me” is a one-time watch if you do not want to break your head watching a thriller and wondering what’s going to happen next. Everything is served cold on a plate for you, just like Eden’s revenge, although it tastes bad, unlike revenge, which is best served cold.
