Entertainment
Adam Scott and Danielle Deadwyler’s Satire Can’t Make Its Most Stellar Ideas Work
The Saviors, by director Kevin Hamedani and written by Hamedani and Travis Betz, is a satire that feels like it’s been sitting on the shelf for a few decades. Playing off post-9/11 fears, The Saviors tries to teach a lesson that any sane person already understands, in that judging people by the way they look isn’t right. Islamophobia is still rampant in our world, without a doubt, but The Saviors doesn’t have the nuance or the depth to explore its well-intentioned concept in any way other than in the most obvious, direct ways. The Saviors is a film that wants to be a broad comedy at times, while exploring intricate, difficult topics the next, and in this film, the two don’t meld together nearly as well as they need to do this idea justice.
Adam Scott and Danielle Deadwyler Are Nervous About Their New Renters in ‘The Saviors’
Sean (Adam Scott) and Kimberley Harrison (Danielle Deadwyler) are a married couple who rent their guest house for a few days to brother and sister Jahn (Nazanin Boniadi) and Amir (Theo Rossi). Sean and Kimberley are getting ready to sell their house and divorce, but they need the extra money to make repairs on their home. After a pleasant meeting and a lovely dinner together, Sean starts to suspect something is off about their new renters. Despite Amir stating Jahn is deaf, Sean believes she hears more than she lets on, and Sean seems to think of Amir’s slightly intense demeanor as something suspicious. Early on, when Kimberley tries to calm down his worries, Sean states that he’s “uneasy” around the brown people that have moved in, and it’s as though The Saviors wants us to agree that something strange is going on.
It doesn’t take long before Kimberley is all aboard the suspicion train, as the pair stay up to try and catch anything unusual coming from their guest house. Little things completely alter their perception of Jahn and Amir — they look through the guest house and notice mechanical devices, while Kimberley notices that her journal has gone missing. Not helping matters are Sean’s parents (Ron Perlman and Colleen Camp), who are supporters of a neo-Nazi publication that they’ve also signed Sean and Kimberley up for, and Sean’s sister, Cleo (Kate Berlant), who is constantly joking about these Middle Eastern people and saying that it’s the conservatives’ time in America.
But Sean and Kimberley start to get very concerned upon the realization that the President is coming to visit the area soon. While there have been reports of higher security in the area and demonstrations due to the President’s arrival, Sean and Kimberley have convinced themselves that Jahn and Amir are going to set off a bomb that will take out the President. Amongst all of this, Sean also keeps having strange dreams where he and Kimberley are back together, but also of a bomb going off near their house, which only exacerbates his racist fears.
‘The Saviors’ Doesn’t Have the Nuance or Depth To Make This Satire Work
Hamedani and Betz’s screenplay is awkward at best. As we see this story from Sean and Kimberley’s perspective, it wants us to see this story from their perspective — which is inherently critical based on race — and seems to want us to agree that something strange is going on. We know that there’s probably going to be something deeper than what this married couple is seeing, but it also apparently wants us to go, “See, they have a point for being suspicious! You can’t blame them for this!,” while also criticizing them at the same time. It’s a fine needle to thread, and it doesn’t even come close to pulling it off.
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The Saviors also wants us to laugh at this scenario and these characters, but it’s often hard to find anything funny in this situation. The fact that Sean and Cleo were raised by racist parents is seen as a joke that has seemingly trickled down. The paranoia towards Amir and Jahn is also played for laughs, as Sean and Kimberley stay up all night keeping an eye on their neighbors. At one point, Sean and Kimberley rekindle their romance, and as they hook up, they switch positions solely so they can continue their spying and not miss anything. The Saviors wants its humor to hit with an uncomfortable undertone, which is very clear, but considering the world we live in today, it’s hard to see the comedy in the situations that the film presents here.
Hamedani and Betz have good intentions in this story, trying to present an idea that the world will fall apart if we don’t trust our very neighbors, and are attempting a plea for unity with this film. The problem is that this doesn’t have nearly the depth or focus to sell that theme effectively. We don’t really know anything about Sean or Kimberley, other than that Sean is unemployed and has a very questionable family. The film even throws in an over-the-top private investigator, Jim Clemente (Greg Kinnear), to help spy on Amir and Jahn, and it just feels like yet another unneeded layer of humor that falls flat. The Saviors wants us to walk away feeling like we should love and trust our neighbors, when really, it’s presenting the idea that maybe it’s better to stay the hell away from them.
‘The Saviors’ Cast Is Good, Even If the Movie Is Not
Scott and Deadwyler are both decent in The Saviors, despite the script not doing them any favors. Scott could absolutely play the depth of a character torn between his liberal beliefs and his conservative upbringing, but The Saviors doesn’t ask him to go that far. Instead, The Saviors asks him to be a suspicious and borderline racist character, and he manages to do this while also still being likable, despite his flaws. It’s also just great to see Deadwyler in a role that allows her to be a bit more humorous, especially after great but often depressing performances in films like Till and The Piano Lesson. Comedy looks good on Deadwyler, and hopefully, she’ll get more work in the genre in the future. Rossi and Boniadi are also very strong here, and by the end, you’ll wish that the film focused on them and their story instead of Sean and Kimberley.
Right when The Saviors is getting somewhere legitimately interesting, the film grinds to a halt. It’s an ending that could’ve completely shifted the tone and quality of the movie had it happened halfway through the film. But instead, The Saviors shows its promise in the closing moments and makes one wonder what that much better, more intriguing story could’ve been. Hamedani and Betz have created a concept with some fascinating places for it to go, and instead, have handled this story sloppily and with questionable focus. Yes, The Saviors feels like a satire from another era altogether, but had Hamedani and Betz handled this story better, it could’ve felt incredibly essential to our current times.
The Saviors premiered at the 2026 SXSW Festival.
- Release Date
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March 13, 2026
- Director
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Kevin Hamedani
- Writers
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Travis Betz, Kevin Hamedani
- Producers
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Adam Scott, Bradley Gallo, Matt Smith, Nicholas Weinstock, Naomi Scott, Michael Helfant, Dan Gedman
Cast
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Danielle Deadwyler
Kimberley Harrison
- The cast of The Saviors is solid, even if the characters aren’t there.
- The Saviors has good intentions and a solid concept that ends in an intriguing place.
- The Saviors doesn’t have the depth a satire like this absolutely needs.
- The film ends right when it’s starting to get truly interesting.
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