Bite me (2022) Film Review
A few hours have passed and Bite Me remains the same: an enigmatic twist on a very traditional genre that doesn’t necessarily seek recognition as a brutal cinematic variation. It’s a grounded film whose story derives from something very specific and quite different from what you’d expect in a romantic film.
In Bite Me, vampires exist. Sort of.
And they’re not the monsters you’re thinking of.
But they suffer as such.
Bite Me is the ultimate rom-com that dares to go places with its bold approach of two opposites coming together. It tells the story of a real-life vampire who falls in love with the most absurd person: An IRS agent.
Sarah and James are the result of an auditing meeting that’s anti-romantic and insufferably boring. But sometimes, souls are meant to be together, if only they can get past the opinions of their peers.
Perhaps you would say the film must deal with every insight you’re coming up with. The vampire rules we’re tired of discussing. But Bite Me doesn’t allow itself to be formulaic, silly, or even standard considering the basis of romantic comedies. It’s way more natural and raw than you would think, and vampire fans will honestly get bored at the lack of any vampirism display.
Instead, Bite Me functions better when it’s just about two people doing their best at falling in love when they should actually go their own way. Their relationship is hard, but they seem magnetic whenever they’re together. A supporting cast does great but it’s not a match for the film’s most prominent element: the chemistry between its two leads and the inevitable result.
Then again, when Bite Me tries to extend its premise and deliver a comedy film based on the well-tired insight, it gets sluggish and definitely uninteresting. It’s full of pop culture notes that will make you point at the screen and giggle. But there’s nothing more in these swift scenes than just the clever use of ideas pointed out in the script. Notes that seem like a clever gimmick to make the audience know the film is excessively self-aware.
Regardless, Bite Me works as a romantic comedy because the structure is well fixed and screenwriter Naomi McDougall Jones, who also plays Sarah, plays it safe with such a risky premise. I wasn’t enamored at first with what the film presented from a grounded point of view. I really thought it would explode as a full-blown vampire film with horror and comedy gags. But it actually surprised me. Bite Me gets serious when it doesn’t have to, and genre films that don’t feel like one are quite rare.
Bite Me is different because the story it tells declares itself to be. But it also has the stereotypes of a typical romantic comedy that will indulge some fans who seek the same they’ve seen before. As for me, I enjoyed it whenever it stayed as a humble film about two very different people falling in love.
