The Strays, which follows a rich British family who is unaware of the mother's past is both a frustrating and entertaining watch. Neve who is a mixed woman lives in a predominantly white neighborhood with her husband and their two children. When a teenage girl and boy show up they end up turning their worlds upside down. The Strays tackles topics like racism, child abandonment and wealth and poverty. It is definitely well made and has a good, strong casting (in my opinion) but the movie and the folding plot are not very shocking or unpredictable. I enjoyed this Netflix thriller however, it definitely being one of the better ones the streaming service has released.

What tempts you into believing that The Strays is a film that discusses classist, racist connotations eventually settles into a sore home-invasion thriller with an unsettling twist. The 'Jordan Peele' stylistic choices, be it in the script or the visuals, are hard to dismiss. The primary issue, however, is that when Neve's pretty little world starts to fall apart, I could already anticipate what was going on in the background. Writer-director Nathaniel Martello-White then spends a whole chapter detailing what happened a few days earlier to explain the proceedings from another perspective. Rebecca Hall's Resurrection was a masterclass in portraying a psychologically-affected protagonist when someone from her past shows up, but Ashley Madekwe's performance comes with a sense of deliberation. She comes across as more of an escapist and not someone who accepts her past demons, making the only strongly written character in the film the least accessible.