They say baseball is America’s favorite pastime, but there’s really nothing more American than football. Heck, the word “football” in other countries refers to a whole different sport. So, of course, football has found its way into countless different American movies. From North Dallas Forty to Any Given Sunday, from The Waterboy to Rudy, people love a good football movie. Until now. Him might just be a little too out there.
Him is about a star college quarterback named Cameron Cade (Tyriq Withers from I Know What You Did Last Summer) who sees his USFF (the movie’s fictional NFL) draft stock plummet after he is viciously attacked and left with a head injury. His childhood hero, an 8-time champion named Isaiah White (Requiem for a Dream’s Marlon Wayans), reaches out and offers to train him to take over the reins of his hometown team, The San Antonio Saviors, and Cameron couldn’t be happier. That is, until he realizes that Isaiah’s training methods are unorthodox, to say the least.
Him may have been directed by Justin Tipping (Flatbush Misdemeanors, Run the World) from a screenplay he wrote along with Zack Akers and Skip Bronkie (the creators of the Limetown podcast and television series), but producer Jordan Peele (Get Out, Us) has his name above the title. And frankly, Him does feel a bit like a Peele movie. Only less coherent and more exploitative. It makes less sense and has more blood.
Part of Him is a Faustian deal-with-the-devil story, with Cameron being tempted with success and being asked what he would sacrifice to achieve it. Another part is a Joseph Campbell mentor tale, with Isaiah offering his wisdom and guidance to help Cameron be the best quarterback he can be. Along the way, the two movies merge, and that’s where things get muddy. Isaiah comes off as half willing to help and half jealous of his heir apparent. And this dichotomy manifests itself in Isaiah putting Cameron through a torturous training regimen.
It feels like there are a bunch of deleted scenes somewhere that make Him make a little bit more sense. The movie seems to be grounded in reality, but there are surreal moments that don’t feel like they’re part of the same story – think Aronofsky’s Mother! as a comparison. The analogies are both vague and on-the-nose at the same time, which just winds up confusing. Is this movie about the pressures of performing as an athlete, or is it a religious metaphor? Or maybe both?
To its credit, Him does explain much of itself by the end, but by then, the audience is a bit too shell-shocked to care. Any question as to whether or not it’s a horror movie is answered by the climax (for the curious, that’s a resounding YES!). At that point, any subtlety that may have existed in the film is long gone. This is where the little surreal images from Cameron’s nightmarish journey gather. It’s also where a story that barely had wheels in the first place loses them completely.
For his part, Justin Tipping knows how to make a good movie. His vision onscreen is solid, even in the face of the odd story choices. Him definitely has a distinct and inimitable style to it, one that is hip and visceral. Its vibe is that of a music video or a video game, reminiscent of the high-adrenaline Any Given Sunday. There’s a kinetic energy to the visuals that almost saves the movie from itself. Almost.
Personally, I really wanted to like Him a lot more than I did. I felt the same way about Mother!, and eventually came around a bit on that one (although not completely). Him is a mess, and that is probably by design. It may take a while for me to get past the Jordan Peele on the poster and unravel that mess. Tipping is obviously not Peele, and Him is obviously not Get Out.
GRADE: C-
Rating: R for strong bloody violence, language throughout, sexual material, nudity, and some drug use
Running Time: 1 hour 36 minutes
Release Date: September 19, 2025
Studio: Universal Pictures
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