John Donne once wrote “no man is an island” and while that once might have been true, I don’t think it is anymore. When once upon a time we all had to venture out into the world to find others, now you can do it all from the comforts of your home. This step in our evolution is here because of social medial. Now you can take a picture of your meal and soon have people you will never meet comment on how yummy it looks. However, not everyone is there to like your new sunglasses; there are some who become your social stalker.
Ingrid (Aubrey Plaza) is one such person. When a woman doesn’t invite her to her wedding Ingrid goes a little crazy and shows up only to douse her with hot pepper spray. Things do not turn out well when you do something like that and Ingrid is put away to get help with the things she has done. Eventually she is released and ventures back out into the world, a world where her mother has past away and left Ingrid $60,000. Ingrid soon though starts to feel the need to connect with strangers and finds Instagram star Taylor Sloane (Elizabeth Olson) and decides to move to California in order to be closer to her.
Soon Ingrid is visiting the places Taylor visits all with the hopes that she will run into her new favorite person. Sharing the same places Taylor has visited isn’t enough, and soon she finds a way to get into Taylor’s life by stealing her dog and then pretending she found it. The plan works perfectly and soon she is spending all kinds of time with Taylor and her husband Ezra (Wyatt Russell). Ingrid even starts to bring her landlord/boyfriend Dan (O’Shea Jackson Jr.) around and just when everything is going to well, Taylor’s brother Nicky (Billy Magnussen) tears it all down.
The goods and the bad of social media are real. It seems more and more people are worried about how many likes and friends they have on-line than they have in real life. In “Ingrid” that addiction is on full display and all Ingrid wants is to be liked. Very few people could play Ingrid like Plaza does, as she lets the crazy shine in as many broad ways as she does in the subtle ones. You will certainly find yourself cringing at moments that make you wish you could help Ingrid. Plaza is not the only thing that makes this film work; you also have Jackson Jr. who you wish more people gave him characters like this to play, as his comic touch lightens the mood whenever he’s on screen. “Ingrid Goes West” could be a cautionary tale for some, but while that might be true, for most it will just be a well done movie, that is sure to get way too many likes.
