As this happens, Ruth is standing in front of a pain management scale. If she was a six before (moderate pain), she is a ten by the time the day is over. As Jason Newman’s “Go Away (To Paradise)” continues to play in the background, Ruth’s torture continues outside of work: in the car park, where an impatient driver won’t let her pass; in the grocery store, where people behave selfishly; in the bar, where a man (Blair) ruins the book she’s reading; and at home, where someone let their dog crap on her front yard (ironically, right in front of her handmade no-poop sign).

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The final straw for Ruth, however, is discovering she has been robbed. And worst still, finding out that among her laptop and other expensive possessions, they stole her late grandmother’s silver spoon. When the cops refuse to help Ruth — going so far as to blame Ruth herself for leaving her door unlocked — she takes matters into her own hands, and that is where Elijah Wood’s Tony comes into it.

Audiences are first introduced to Tony as Ruth’s oddball neighbour who is responsible for letting his dog, Kevin, mess on her yard. He is the first person that Ruth flips out on, and the first to show remorse for his actions, apologizing after Ruth throws Kevin’s feces at him. Tony makes a reappearance when Ruth needs help retrieving her stolen laptop and enlists him as her accomplice. Socially awkward and sensitive (he gets irrationally mad after hearing Ruth has been robbed), Tony is an unlikely vigilante. With his rattail hair, patchy beard, and sleeveless shirts, he certainly doesn’t look the part, but with nunchucks in hand, he is willing to give it a go.

On their first mission to get the laptop, Tony uses his martial arts skills to take down a harmless idiot and gain entry into the thieves’ home. Inside, he causes further unnecessary chaos with a morningstar, shuriken, and explosive, as the supposed thieves stare in bewilderment. As it turns out, this group of confused 20-somethings aren’t the people who robbed Ruth, but some poor bastards who decided to shop second-hand.

The rest of the movie sees Ruth and Tony tracking down the real criminals, played brilliantly by Devon Graye, Jane Levy, and David Yow. Christian (Graye), the most sadistic of the pack, is a bleach blonde, Eminem-looking thug who breaks into people’s homes in plain sight and takes dumps in their toilet tanks; Dez (Levy) is a face-tatted stoner; and Marshall (Yow), an American Del Boy, is the older crook keeping them in check. Other brilliant characters include William (Gary Anthony Williams), the detective Ruth constantly pesters to do his job; Chris Senior (Robert Longstreet), Christian’s rich, arrogant father; and Meredith (Christine Woods), his fed up trophy wife. All give reason to laugh, but none quite as much as Ruth and Tony.

Melanie Lynskey and Elijah Wood are hilarious as the world’s worst vigilante duo. With Lynskey, it’s all in the facial expressions; with Wood, it’s in everything from his kooky appearance to the way Tony asserts himself in dangerous situations he has no business being in. Lynskey is known for playing quiet, soft-spoken characters, and for the first half of the movie at least, Ruth fits the bill. In the second half, however, Lynskey goes against type, as Ruth goes against her normal ways. Watching her transform from an overly-polite, passive citizen, to a woman out for vengeance is incredibly satisfying and funny.

Wood goes even further against type as Tony. Known for the Lord of the Rings trilogy, Wood has also starred in mostly horror, sci-fi, and thriller movies. In 2014, he starred in the flop horror comedy Cooties, about a deadly virus that transforms school students into bloodthirsty zombies. His other horror comedy, Come to Daddy, released two years after I Don’t Feel at Home in This World Anymore, was better received, but is no competition compared to the latter.

I Don’t Feel at Home won the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Awards ceremony and is currently rated 6.9 on IMDb, with a fairer score of 89% on Rotten Tomatoes. With its underlying themes of selfishness, hostility, and general crummy behavior, it is hard to believe the movie was conceived pre-pandemic, before stockpiling and fighting over toilet paper was a thing. But that just proves Ruth’s point: “The way people treat each other — they’re disgusting” (and always have been). Fortunately, I Don’t Feel at Home in This World Anymore chooses to end on a more positive note: people may suck, but you’ll always find some oddballs in your corner.

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