We live in an age where voices are in everybody’s ears. Be it on the radio, in podcasts, or in YouTube videos. These voices are powerful—the power to persuade opinions and change minds. Look at the influence of the digital manosphere in recent elections. That is tremendous power in an age where information moves so fast, and disinformation moves even faster. The manipulation of opinions moves faster than the pendulum swings, resulting in occasional confusion, fiery discourse, and even radicalization. What happens when the voice on the other end is radioactive? What happens when the listener embraces the glowing substance? The answer is nuclear meltdown.
It is these touchy threads that weave together to create Come with Me, a provocative and dark tapestry focusing on conversations and ideas that are uncomfortable, to say the least. The story is a look at the radicalization of a wayward working-class man who stares into the abyss and then keeps right on plunging into the darkness—a one-man crusade, emboldened by a twisted sense of self-righteousness. The film feels timely in the politically charged and embattled landscape that is America circa 2026. It speaks to the loneliness epidemic and the plight of the vulnerable. It is also a character study that will be uncomfortable to watch but, from a performance standpoint, is wildly impressive.
Simon Ward (Theo Rossi) is a working-class man who listens to a rhetoric-spewing radio host. At first, he appears passive, a man simply going about his daily life amid the 9-to-5 grind that is his work. On the surface, he appears well-adjusted, with a stable friend group, employment, and a girlfriend. Yet, it seems that one bad day becomes a tripwire for Simon’s descent into conspiracy, paranoia, and grievance.
A home invasion proves to be the lynchpin that sets Simon on a downward spiral. From there, troubles begin to pop up at work, and his best friend Gary (Ronnie Gene Blevins) unexpectedly dies. And in the background is the unseen, but always heard voice of radio host Dalton Kirby (Ron Perlman). The daily radio rhetoric becomes a clarion call for Simon, who begins to see the world through the lens of perceived wrongs. And these wrongs and injustices seem to be everywhere; he becomes determined to make things right.
From the start, the subject matter and the direction the story takes will undoubtedly bother many viewers and be polarizing. Simon is not a hero, much less a protagonist the audience can root for or even sympathize with. However, this script is smarter than simply rehashing what Joker did by riffing on Taxi Driver. The story is without bells and whistles, a look at the breaking of the American mind, particularly among those who felt forgotten or let down by a system they believed was meant to provide protection and mobility.
Come with Me ties itself, hook, line, and sinker, to the current political moment. It is not so much a cautionary tale; there are echoes of that sentiment, but instead a frank and at-times unforgiving portrait of how problems are both created through reactionary junctures and also manifested by a diluted sense of worth and purpose. If anything, the film never shines a sympathetic light on the subject and characters; it shifts the focus to an empathetic understanding of the here and now.
This is why the story works best as a character study rather than a blunt social and political commentary. We are following Simon as he descends into his own mind, and delusions become more potent. By framing the fiery radio host as both the devil and the angel on his shoulder, we come away with a much better understanding of just how far many in our society have gone down the conspiracy rabbit hole and found darkness at the bottom.
The descent becomes increasingly uncomfortable and at times difficult to watch. Still, it is because the story spares no detail for the sake of comfort that the whole thing works. Art, in any case, should evoke intense feelings and spark debate. Here is a film that is willing to present controversial themes and polarizing subjects. The result is never to lecture or even preach, but to offer a frank account of the messy and increasingly toxic sociopolitical world of our current moment.
Here, Theo Rossi vanishes into the role. His choices regarding the character are fraught, leaving us utterly shocked. Much of his performance is built around his expression. When he does speak, we listen, even as his rhetoric is tortured and maladjusted. It is in his eyes and his ability to project a canvas of both confusion and clarity that his ticking time bomb of a breaking psyche works so well. It is a masterclass presentation.
The film showcases the increasingly prevalent silos people are entering. Media channels become sounding boards for talking points and repeated information, designed never to engage in debate but to stir and ignite passions. The world keeps getting darker, and the film manages this to both a literal and metaphorical effect. An increasing darkness envelops the story and the screen once Simon begins his paranoid spiral. The use of cinematic language here is expert, guiding us along a freeway with no exit ramp.
Perlman’s voice becomes an earworm that both serves as a sounding board and a megaphone into Simon’s twisted soul and psyche. “Words, not violence, change men’s hearts, but sometimes when words don’t work, all that’s left is the constitution of one man’s soul — his conviction”
For at the end of it all, Simon is both a perpetrator and a victim. A system indeed radicalizes him, and yet the world keeps right on spinning. There are no consequences, or lessons learned. There is only action. Come with Me is intentionally uncomfortable, but it is likely to stir something that is not happening now: debate in addition to calling for the need not simply to talk about uncomfortable truths, but to seek resolve and clarity. Simon is to be both understood and despised. The true takeaway of this film may be the lesson to break free from silos and engage in healthy, productive debate.
Come with Me is directed by Aaron Harvey and will be available for streaming beginning on September 4, 2026.
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Come with Me is intentionally uncomfortable, but it is likely to stir something that is not happening now: debate in addition to calling for the need not simply to talk about uncomfortable truths, but to seek resolve and clarity.
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GVN Rating
Writing & podcasting, for the love of movies.
His Letterboxd Favorites: The Dark Knight, Halloween, Jaws & Revenge of The Sith.
