The Oath (2018)

Raw, improvised and indicative of Trump’s America, The Oath reminds viewers of the need for laughter despite the downtrodden insanity around us. Thankfully, Barinholtz resists the urge to lapse into cynicism, because at the end of the day people are more important than politics.

The Oath is a film of its time, and that immediacy is both its strength and its downfall.

Despite tackling our crazy times, The Oath somehow winds up not quite crazy enough to assess them.

In The Oath, his first feature as a writer-director, comic actor Ike Barinholtz zeroes in on an approach somewhere between caustic stage comedy and "The Purge." The movie isn’t always up to the delicacy of that ambitious balancing act, but even the attempt is engaging.

The film wrongfully substitutes abrupt violence for anything truly provocative, squandering the promise of its early scenes with a disjointed third act and pat ending that renders its satire toothless.