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Habit Blu-ray Review

Kick the “Habit” to the curb.

Having grown up in Texas, the Jesus loving Mads heads to L.A. where she starts dealing drugs for a former TV star (Eric). After the drug money is stolen, Mads and her 2 roomies Abby and Evie are in deep trouble. Worse still, they are evicted from their home. Needing money quick, the 3 pose as nuns to get enough charity money to pay back the debt, but unfortunately for them, Eric’s murderous drug lord superiors (Tuff and Queenie) are on their trail. 

From the opening moments of director Janell Shirtcliff’s film, it’s clear that “Habit” was going to be a rough ride. Shirtclif (who also co-wrote the script alongside Libby Mintz) tries way too hard to create something edgy and flashy, but there’s not much going on under the surface here of this crime story about faith that resembles “Sister Act” more than a little in spots. For a large majority of the mercifully short runtime, it feels like Shirtcliff made the movie on the fly without a script. The dialogue (if you want to call it that) is groan worthy, the attempts at humor fall flat, the narration is downright clumsy, the direction resembles that of a spastic music video, and some of the stock footage insertions look like something you’d see in a “Mystery Science Theater 3000” movie.

There’s also barely a story to hold this movie together. Most of the time the movie feels like an excuse to showcase Bella Thorne, sex appeal, drug use, and a bunch of random musicians like Alison Mosshart (The Kills), Paris Jackson (who is also a producer), Soko, Jamie Hince (also from The Kills), and Gavin Rossdale (Bush frontman) pop up here and there.

On the subject of the cast, I can’t say anyone comes out of this movie with a “good” performance. Thorne is the only one who really seems to be trying here, but she has so little to work with character wise. We know next to nothing about her aside from her love of Jesus. Rossdale is head shakingly bad here as his character does little more than sit around a house. Josie Ho is unbearably irritating as the over-the-top drug lord Queenie. Libby Mintz (Evie) and Andreja Pejic (Abby) are passable, but again, their characters are paper thin. 

Video/Audio:

Presentation: 1.78:1 1080p. Grade: B+

Audio Track: 5.1 DTS-HD MA. Grade: A-

The lone extra is a “Habit” trailer.

August 29, 2021 - Posted by nicklyons1 | Blu-Ray review | Bella Thorne, Habit Blu-ray Review, Habit Movie