No Good Deed (2014 film)

Plot

In Tennessee, a prisoner Colin Evans (Idris Elba) is in a police van on the way to court with two policemen. It is revealed that Colin has been in prison for over 5 years for manslaughter. He pleas to the court to be granted parole, saying that he is a changed person. The court denies parole, claiming that he is not trustworthy enough. On the way back to prison, a frustrated Colin deceives the policemen in the car and murders both mercilessly, and escapes with the van.

At the same time, in Atlanta, Terri Granger (Taraji P. Henson) is home with her young children. Her best friend Meg (Leslie Bibb), a young, carefree woman suggests that Terri relax and not stress herself with her children and husband. Meg knows that Terri's relationship with her husband has taken a rough toll on her. Hence, Meg tells her not to worry and that she will visit her at night for a 'girls' night' to cheer Terri up. Terri's husband Jeffrey (Henry Simmons) arrives home just long enough to pack his things and visit his father, leaving her quite abruptly with their two children.

Colin stalks his ex-fiancée, Alexis (Kate del Castillo), and witnesses her meeting another man at an outdoor cafe. She greets the man with a hug and joins him at a table. Colin then follows her home and they get into a violent argument, resulting in him murdering her in his fury. Later he is seen driving on a dark road in a terrible storm in which he loses control of his car and it crashes into a tree. He leaves the scene of the accident and starts walking down the road where he notices that there is only one house with the lights on, which happens to be Terri's. He rings her bell and asks Terri if he can use her phone to call for a tow truck. She is at first apprehensive but gives him the phone. Later after chit chatting with him and feeling comfortable she invites him inside so he can take shelter from the storm as they wait for the tow truck. They chit chat some more and Terri reveals that before she married and had children she was a criminal prosecutor for the District Attorney's office. Colin tells Terri that he just broke up with his fiancée because she was cheating on him.

Not long after this, Meg arrives and is shocked to see Colin. When she inquires about where he lives, he is evasive. Later, the three talk and share glasses of wine. When Terri leaves momentarily to comfort her baby, Meg and Colin are left alone. Colin asks to be excused for a cigarette break. Meg follows him into the garage, smokes with him and resumes her attempts to find out more about him. Colin suggests that he is having an affair with Terri but his explanation for why Terri wouldn't have previously confided this to Meg doesn't ring true. Meg bluntly tells him that his story "doesn't add up" and declares that she will find out the truth. She begins to call out to Terri but Colin quickly grabs a shovel and bashes Meg in the head with it, killing her.

Terri returns to the hall after putting her baby to bed and is surprised to see that Meg is not there. Colin tells Terri that Meg left, but Terri is overcome by suspicion, especially when she sees Meg's umbrella in the stand. Terri realizes that Colin is not the nice person that he appeared to be. Alarmed, she rushes to the kitchen to call the police, only to find out that Colin has disconnected all the wires and hidden all of her knives. Realizing that her and her children's lives are in danger, she rushes to Ryan's bedroom, only to find Colin playing with her. As they walk out of Ryan's bedroom, Terri hits him with a fire extinguisher and sprays him in the face with it. He falls down the stairs and she runs to get her children. But as she leaves Ryan's room she sees that Colin has recovered when he appears outside the girl's room. He tells her to put the children back in their rooms and now that he has revealed his gun Terri is forced to obey him (including taking her clothes off in his presence). In a brief moment where she strikes him unconscious, she manages to flee to the home office where there is a fax machine. She then dials 911 for help. Colin recovers and finds her in the office. He yanks the phone out of her hand just as she finishes her call. She begs him to leave telling him that the cops are coming, and his blood is all over her kitchen (because she managed to cut him) but Colin forces her to take the children and get into her vehicle. He forces Terri to drive. While walking out of the garage, Terri sees Meg's dead body on the floor.

Tearfully, Terri asks him why he is doing this, to which Colin replies that she will see for herself soon. He refuses to tell her their destination. As they pass a police car on the road, Terri flashes her headlights when she thinks Colin is not looking, hoping to catch their attention. The police car forces them to pull over and a young policeman interrogates them. He requests that Terri step out of the vehicle, which she does. He asks her if she is all right, to which she is forced to reluctantly agree because Colin is alone with her children in the vehicle. The policeman senses her reluctance, but before he can do anything, Colin steps out of the car and shoots him dead. He shoves Terri back into the vehicle and they resume their journey.

Colin makes Terri drive to a house with the children. This is Alexis' house. She panics when she sees Alexis' dead body in the bedroom. As she tries to find the first-aid kit in the house, the high winds from the storm cause Terri's car alarm to sound off. Worried that the noise will attract attention, Colin binds her hands behind her back and her feet with medical gauze while he goes to check on the car. As Colin exits the house, Alexis' phone rings. Terri manages to free herself from being bound to answer Alexis' ringing phone, and the call turns out to be from Jeffrey (Terri's husband), who is calling Alexis to find out why she hasn't arrived at the hotel yet to meet him. It is only then that Terri realizes that he was not out of town with his father after all and has been having an affair with Alexis. Terri also realizes that the encounter with Colin was not random, and that Colin wants revenge on Jeffrey because of his affair with Alexis. Terri tells her surprised husband the truth and has him call 911. She misleads Colin into thinking that they have escaped and hides her children. When Colin discovers her, she attacks Colin once more, this time grabbing his gun and shooting him until he falls out of a window, dead.

The police arrive, along with Jeffery, he tells Terri that he is sorry and that Alexis meant nothing to him. Terri punches in the face and walks away. Sometime later, we see a much more confident Terri that evidently went back to her career, and is starting a new life by moving into a new house with her children.

Cast

Production

Filming of No Good Deed began in April 2012 in Atlanta, Georgia.

Release

No Good Deed was initially set to be released on October 18, 2013. In January 2013, Screen Gems announced the film would be moved to open on January 17, 2014, at the beginning of the MLK Holiday weekend. This date conflicted with another Will Packer-produced film, Ride Along, a Universal Pictures release that stars Ice Cube and Kevin Hart. For this reason, in April 2013, the studio pushed back No Good Deed's release date for a second time to April 25, 2014. Yet again, in early October 2013 (and giving no specific reason), Screen Gems for a third time pushed backed the release date of the film to September 12, 2014. Sony Pictures Releasing debuted the first official trailer for the film on June 12, 2014. No Good Deed was released on Blu-ray and DVD on January 6, 2015.

Box office

No Good Deed was released on Friday, September 12, 2014. The film was #1 at the domestic box office over the 3-day weekend, grossing $24,250,283 at 2,175 North American theaters ($11,150 per theater average). The film was producer Will Packer's third #1 film of 2014, following Ride Along and Think Like a Man Too. No Good Deed grossed $54,323,210 worldwide.

Reception

No Good Deed has received generally negative reviews from critics. Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a rating of 10% based on reviews from 50 critics, with an average rating of 3.2/10. The site's consensus reads, "Dull, derivative, and generally uninspired, No Good Deed wastes its stars' talents — and the audience's time." Metacritic gives the film a weighted average score of 26 out of 100, based on reviews from 17 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".

The audience for No Good Deed was 60 percent female, 59 percent over the age of 30. Filmgoers gave the movie a "B+" CinemaScore.

Soundtrack

Screen Gems and Madison Gate Records released the soundtrack to the film No Good Deed digitally and physically on September 9, 2014. The 15-track album contains the film's original score composed by Paul Haslinger.

"No Good Deed offered a great opportunity to re-explore a style of score I had first developed for the film Vacancy; music designed to enhance psychological qualities in the telling of a story, in this case, a rather dark one. My personal preference for this kind of approach is to mix classic film noir elements with music, sound-design elements; sometimes alternating, sometimes superimposing them. The goal ultimately was to connect the headspace of the characters with that of the audience, to make the audience feel the threads of the story as they watch it unfold. Working off great performances by Idris Elba and Taraji P. Henson, this was a unique and rewarding project to be involved with!" - Paul Haslinger.

All music composed by Paul Haslinger.