He’s Not Worth Dying For (2022)

(On TV, November 2022) I often discuss made-for-TV thrillers with a smirk, highlighting their craziness or ineptness as strengths and celebrating when one film turns out to be particularly silly or over-the-top. Crazy overdone cheap thrillers are still a step up from many other kinds of film, and here is He’s Not Worth Dying For to help make my point. Apparently inspired by true events, this is a film that takes an old person’s proud stance against social media, as it describes the escalating bickering between two young women fighting over the same guy through online posts and, later, a real confrontation. Hilda Martin stars as a wide-eyed innocent who’s gradually corrupted by the experience, while Rachel Boyd plays the self-styled influencer who becomes worse and worse while Lachlan Quarmby is stuck playing the schmuck enjoying the affection of both women. He’s a terrible character, and the film does nothing to humanize or even explain his state of mind. Anyway: by the time the good girl turns bad and fights the always-bad one, we’re left with a sordid little tale that’s not remotely enjoyable. Never understanding when to shut up, He’s Not Worth Dying For then drags on for another twenty excruciating minutes of no further value after making its most dramatic point. (Actually, that’s not quite true: I did enjoy seeing Canadian character actor Lochlyn Munroe in a far-too-short role as a public prosecutor. But he gets sixty seconds of airtime.)  By the end of the ordeal, He’s Not Worth Dying For just feels pathetic—nowhere enough over-the-top to serve as a social media Reefer Madness and not even bothered to make the most out of its elements. So, the next time you read me talking about a ridiculous made-for-TV thriller as if it was a good thing, believe me: there’s worse out there.