Asking for It (2020 film)
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| Asking for It | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Amanda Lundquist[1] |
| Produced by | Becky Scott Rebecca Karpovsky Will Morningstar Jackie Goncalves |
| Written by | Becky Scott |
| Starring | Stephanie Hsu Irene Morales Janeane Garofalo Colin Burgess Kim Taff Hallie Haas Matthew Van Oss David Krumholtz Sam Koll |
| Music by | Michelle Birsky, Kevin Henthorn |
| Cinematography | Olga Vazquez |
| Edited by | Amanda Lundquist |
| Distributed by | Fuse Media Breaking Glass Pictures |
Release date |
|
Running time | 81 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English this |
Search Asking for It (2020 film) on Amazon.
Asking For It is a 2020 absurdist comedy directed by Amanda Lundquist[1] and co-directed and written by Becky Scott. The story follows a millennial journalist (played by Stephanie Hsu) who, along with her irreverent roommate (played by Irene Morales), must track down an increasingly threatening Internet stalker after her police report is dismissed. The film also stars Janeane Garofalo and David Krumholtz.
The film premiered at Cinequest Film Festival in March 2020.[1] In August 2020, Asking For It made its cable television premiere on the Fuse channel.[2]
Plot[edit]
Overworked journalist Jenny Heitz asks her pseudo-feminist editor Cheryl (Janeane Garofalo) for a raise but is dismissed and belittled — as, it seems, per usual. Jenny returns to work, only to immediately open a threatening email from an anonymous reader who goes by the username Cryptoboner. He warns her not to ignore him but she deletes the email and leaves work.
While attempting to meditate the next morning, Jenny is bombarded with increasingly threatening emails from Cryptoboner. This is the exact moment Jenny's new roommate, Lisa, arrives. Believing it's Cryptoboner, Jenny hides. Lisa lets herself in, terrifying Jenny. A humiliated Jenny invites Lisa to hang out but Lisa tells Jenny she isn't interested in being her friend.
Jenny goes to the apartment of Ellen and Meredith, her best friends and coworkers. Once again, Jenny finds herself terrified when Meredith and Ellen prank her by pretending that Ellen has been attacked. While at Ellen and Meredith’s apartment, Cryptoboner sends Jenny a text. As Ellen and Meredith scold Jenny for not doing a better job of hiding her private contact information, Ellen's awkward cousin, Rob, arrives.
Later, Rob walks Jenny most of the way home. He asks her out and she declines. When he graciously accepts her rejection, she thanks him and tells him that most men wouldn't be so nice about it. Walking the rest of the way home by herself, Jenny hears footsteps behind her and makes a run for it. When she gets to her apartment, she makes an improvisational weapon out of a beach umbrella and goes to sleep with it next her.
Jenny wakes up in the middle of the night to the sound of somebody in her apartment. She grabs the umbrella and goes to attack what she believes is in an intruder, only to find that it's Lisa making a midnight snack in the kitchen. Believing that Jenny intended to hurt her, Lisa packs a suitcase to leave. Ignoring Jenny's apologies, Lisa pushes open the door to leave — nearly tripping over a pile of bones with a handwritten note that reads "NOBODY IGNORES ME."
Jenny and Lisa call the cops but the policeman who shows up informs them that the bones are from chicken wings. He suggests that whoever left them probably has a crush on Jenny and encourages her to give love a chance. When he leaves without filing a report, Lisa announces that she is going to help Jenny track down Cryptoboner.
Lisa examines the bones and finds a human pinky bone amidst the chicken bones. Using a burner laptop, Lisa traces the emails Cryptoboner has been sending Jenny to a house in New Jersey.
The next morning, Jenny and Lisa drive to New Jersey to stake out Cryptoboner's home and plant a tracking device on his car. As they wait for him, Lisa taunts Jenny by painting her toenails. Lisa tells Jenny that she is going to kill someone someday if she doesn't find an outlet for her repressed rage.
At that moment, a man pulls into Cryptoboner's driveway. As soon as he goes inside, Jenny runs across the street to plant the tracking device. Before Jenny can finish, the man exits his house again. Lisa distracts him by pretending to be the distressed owner of a lost dog. When the man expresses interest in her, she sees an opportunity and gives him her number.
Lisa tells Jenny that Jenny should break into Cryptoboner's house for evidence of criminal activity while Lisa is on a date with him. Jenny rejects the plan as too dangerous so instead they install a camera on the outside of their apartment door.
That night, Lisa shares with Jenny a story about a former coworker of hers who quit her job and left town after being the target of an Internet harassment campaign. Lisa tells Jenny that this is why she's helping her — she doesn't want another woman to be bullied off the Internet.
The next morning, Jenny shows up to work to discover that someone has published a sexist article under her byline. Despite getting praised for it by Cheryl, Jenny leaves work early and runs into Rob on her way home. Rob tells Jenny he saw the article and knew immediately she didn't publish it. He encourages her to protect herself by quitting her job but the suggestion just makes Jenny angry and she storms off.
Back at the apartment, Lisa is going through tape from the security camera outside of their door. She shows Jenny footage of a strange man outside of their apartment doing arts and crafts and practicing sword work. She encourages Jenny to kill him before he kills her but Jenny tells Lisa that she isn't a murderer. Lisa tells Jenny she isn't staying in the apartment without some real protection.
Lisa and Jenny go to the home of Missy, the daughter of Lisa's ex-wife. Missy is a teenage arms dealer and shocks Jenny by revealing that her couch is padded with guns. Lisa and Jenny buy one and bring it to the woods to practice shooting. Lisa offends Jenny when she accuses her of never doing anything she wants to do. Lisa apologizes and Jenny confesses that what she wants more than anything is to start an investigative newspaper where she can do reporting that matters.
The next morning at work, Cheryl calls Jenny into her office. She accuses Jenny of trying to seduce her in exchange for a raise and presents an envelope full of racy photos of Jenny that she received in the mail. Jenny denies that she sent the photographs, telling Cheryl that her stalker must have hacked into her computer and stolen the pictures to sabotage Jenny's career. Cheryl doesn't believe Jenny and the argument erupts into a screaming fight that ends with Jenny quitting.
Jenny goes straight home and tells Lisa to get ready to go on a date so that she can break into Cryptoboner's house. Lisa sets up the date and they drive to New Jersey.
Andy takes Lisa to an apartment rooftop where he has set up a beautiful picnic. Jenny breaks into Cryptoboner's house and searches for evidence. She attempts to log into a laptop in the dining room with the password Lisa gave her but it doesn't work. She goes down to the basement to search for a different computer.
As Lisa and Andy chat, Andy reveals that he is currently letting his third cousin crash in the basement of his house. Lisa immediately realizes that Jenny is in danger and convinces Andy to drive her back to his house.
Jenny enters a small closet in the basement. When she turns the light on, she realizes the walls are covered in surveillance pictures of her. She freaks out and runs, bumping directly into Rob. Realizing that Rob is Cryptoboner, Jenny begs for her life but Rob taunts Jenny with a samurai sword. She manages to get away and runs upstairs. Rob corners her so Jenny pulls her gun on him. She pulls the trigger — but there are no bullets. Neither she nor Lisa remembered to load the gun.
Right at that moment, Lisa bursts through the door and tackles Rob to the ground. Andy then performs a citizen's arrest of Rob, with the unexpected help of Ellen and Meredith. Andy attempts to kiss both Jenny and Lisa but is rejected. Unbothered by the rejection, he gives them a brief case with $500,000 that he found in Rob's part of the house.
Lisa and Jenny return to their apartment, where Lisa donates her half of the money to Jenny so that Jenny can finally start her investigative newspaper.
Cast[edit]
- Stephanie Hsu as Jenny Heitz
- Irene Morales as Lisa Lewis
- Janeane Garofalo as Cheryl Collins
- David Krumholtz as the Cop
- Kim Taff as Ellen
- Hallie Haas as Meredith
- Matthew Van Oss as Andy
- Colin Burgess as Rob/Cryptoboner
Production[edit]
The film was shot in November 2018. It was Stephanie Hsu's first lead role in a film.[3]
Although she planned to work on a farm between starring in SpongeBob SquarePants and Be More Chill, Hsu decided to change her plans after reading the script. Hsu credits her experience shooting Asking for It for preparing her to shoot Everything Everywhere All at Once.[4]
Release[edit]
Upon completion of production, an Indie Gogo campaign was launched in order to fund post-production. The film premiered at the Cinequest Film Festival in March 2020. The film was acquired by Fuse Media and premiered on the Fuse channel on August 1, 2020.[2] It is available for streaming on Amazon Prime, Tubi, Vudu, and the Roku channel.
Reception[edit]
The film currently has a 4.8/10 on IMDb[1] and a 3.5/5 on Letterboxd.[5]
References[edit]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 "Asking for It". IMDb. Retrieved 28 January 2023.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 "Fuse Films: Asking for It". Fuse. Retrieved 24 February 2023.
- ↑ "'Marvelous Mrs. Maisel' Star Stephanie Hsu Vows to Stop 'Deleting Myself' as an Asian Actress". 30 July 2020. Retrieved 24 February 2023.
- ↑ "A New Dark Comedy Delves Into Female Empowerment". Forbes. Retrieved 24 February 2023.
- ↑ "Asking for It". Retrieved 28 January 2023.
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