''The Oath'' is a 2018 American

black comedy film A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the olde ...

written and directed by

Ike Barinholtz Isaac Barinholtz (born February 18, 1977) is an American actor, comedian, writer, director, and producer. He is best known for his starring roles in the comedy series ''MADtv'' (2002–2007), '' Eastbound & Down'' (2012), ''The Mindy Project'' (20 ...

, in his directorial debut. In addition to Barinholtz, the film stars

Tiffany Haddish Tiffany Sara Cornilia Haddish (born December 3, 1979) is an American stand-up comedian and actress. After guest-starring on several television series and lead role on a cable drama, Haddish gained prominence for her role as Nekeisha Williams on ...

John Cho John Cho (born Cho Yo-Han; June 16, 1972) is an American actor known for his roles as Harold Lee in the ''Harold & Kumar'' films, and Hikaru Sulu in the ''Star Trek'' rebooted film series. Early in his career, Cho also starred in the Asian Ame ...

Carrie Brownstein Carrie Rachel Brownstein (born September 27, 1974) is an American musician, actress, writer, director, and comedian. She first came to prominence as a member of the band Excuse 17 before forming the rock trio Sleater-Kinney. During a long hiatus ...

Billy Magnussen William Gregory Magnussen (born April 20, 1985) is an American actor. He has been featured in the films ''Into the Woods'' (2014), ''Birth of the Dragon'' (2016), '' Game Night'' (2018), and '' Aladdin'' (2019), and has had supporting television ...

Meredith Hagner Meredith Kathleen Hagner (born May 31, 1987) is an American actress. She began her career portraying Liberty Ciccone on the CBS soap opera ''As the World Turns'' (2008–2010), which earned her a Daytime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Yo ...

, Jon Barinholtz,

Nora Dunn Nora Dunn (born April 29, 1952) is an American actress and comedian. She was a cast member on the NBC sketch variety TV series ''Saturday Night Live'' from 1985 to 1990, Dr. Reynolds in ''The Nanny'' (1998-1999), and Muriel in ''Home Economics' ...

and Chris Ellis, and follows a politically divided family at Thanksgiving after the U.S. government asks all citizens to sign a loyalty pledge. It had its world premiere at the

Los Angeles Film Festival The LA Film Festival was an annual film festival that was held in Los Angeles, California, and usually took place in June. It showcased independent, international, feature, documentary and short films, as well as web series, music videos, episod ...

on September 25, 2018, and was theatrically released in the United States on October 12, 2018, by

Roadside Attractions Roadside Attractions is an American production company and film distributor based in Los Angeles, California, founded on July 27, 2000, by Howard Cohen and Eric d’Arbeloff, specializing largely in independent films. Lionsgate Lions Gate ...

. The film received mixed reviews from critics, although Haddish's performance was praised.

Plot

In the near future, American citizens are asked, though not required, to sign a legal document swearing allegiance to the United States government by Black Friday, the day after

Thanksgiving Thanksgiving is a national holiday celebrated on various dates in the United States, Canada, Grenada, Saint Lucia, Liberia, and unofficially in countries like Brazil and Philippines. It is also observed in the Netherlander town of Leiden and ...

. Meanwhile, couple Chris and Kai live a quiet suburban life with their young daughter, while Chris is deeply disturbed by the oath. As Black Friday approaches, the young couple hosts their latest Thanksgiving dinner for their extended family. Chris' mother has made him promise not to discuss politics throughout the holiday; nonetheless, he tries to escape and catch the news whenever possible. Chris' brother Pat and his girlfriend Abbie, who have opposing political views, bother Chris throughout the entire holiday despite Kai's attempts to calm him. Chris is also disturbed to learn about the societal breakdown occurring in the nation due to the Oath's deadline, which all of his family members, including Kai, signed except for him. On Black Friday, the family is visited by two governmental agents, Mason and Peter, who question Chris about his efforts to resist others in signing the Oath. Chris is defiant in answering the agents' questions which angers Mason and the two quarrel. During a skirmish, Peter gets knocked out with a concussion while the family subdue and tie up Mason. For the rest of the evening, Peter, while semi-conscious, tries to negotiate with the family for their release, yet Mason continues to antagonize them with various threats. One of those threats includes the notion that the family's children will be harmed. At this moment, Chris draws Mason's own gun upon his head ready to kill him but Clark intervenes, telling the family to turn on the news, which indicates that the President has resigned and the new

Acting President An acting president is a person who temporarily fills the role of a country's president when the incumbent president is unavailable (such as by illness or a vacation) or when the post is vacant (such as for death, injury, resignation, dismissal ...

has revoked the Oath and its subsequent enforcement. The two agents with their authority taken away are released by Chris and Pat. The film ends with Chris and Kai peacefully eating apple pie.

Cast

as Chris Montana, Kai’s husband *

as Kai Albert, Chris’ wife *

as Agent Peter Barber *

as Alice, Chris' sister and Clark's wife *

as Agent James Mason *

as Abbie Button, Pat's girlfriend *

Jon Barinholtz Jon Barinholtz (born December 27, 1982) is an American actor, comedian, and producer based in Los Angeles. He has appeared in film and television, and is best known for the role of Marcus White on the NBC sitcom '' Superstore'' and Wesley Payne o ...

as Pat Kelmeckis, Chris' brother *

as Eleanor Button, Chris' mother * Chris Ellis as Hank Creason, Chris' father *

Matt Corboy Matt Corboy (born June 4, 1973) is an Americans, American actor. He has appeared in both films and Television show, television series. Early life Corboy was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, and grew up there, before leaving to attend Colorado State Un ...

as Clint Marks *

Jay Duplass Lawrence Jay Duplass (born March 7, 1973) is an American filmmaker, actor and author widely known for his films ''The Puffy Chair'' (2005), ''Cyrus'' (2010), and ''Jeff, Who Lives at Home'' (2011), made in collaboration with his younger brother, ...

as Clark Stewart, Alice's husband *

Priah Ferguson Priah Nicole Ferguson (born October 1, 2006) is an American actress. She is best known for her role as Erica Sinclair on the Netflix's series ''Stranger Things''. Early life Ferguson was born on October 1, 2006, in Atlanta, Georgia, to John and ...

as Hardy Fontaine * Henry Kaufman as Asher Wilton *

Max Greenfield Max Greenfield (born September 4, 1979) is an American actor. He appeared in recurring roles in ''Veronica Mars'' and ''Ugly Betty''. He co-starred as Schmidt in the Fox sitcom ''New Girl'', for which he received nominations at the Primetime Emmy ...

as Dan Moore *

Bruce Boxleitner Bruce William Boxleitner (born May 12, 1950) is an American actor and science fiction and suspense writer. He is known for his leading roles in the television series '' How the West Was Won'', '' Bring 'Em Back Alive'', ''Scarecrow and Mrs. King ...

as Vice President Hogan

Production

In September 2017, it was announced

would write, direct, and star in the film. Barinholtz produced the film alongside

Sean McKittrick Sean McKittrick (born March 20, 1975) is American film producer. He is best known for his works ''Donnie Darko'', ''Southland Tales'', for which he was nominated for Palme d'Or at 2006 Cannes Film Festival, and ''Get Out'', which earned him man ...

, Ray Mansfield, Edward H. Hamm, Jr., Andrew Robinson, and David Stassen, under their QC Entertainment and 24/34 Pictures banners, respectively. In December 2017,

, Jon Barinholtz,

and Chris Ellis joined the cast. Haddish also served as an executive producer.

Filming

Principal photography Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production. Personnel Besides the main film personnel, such as actor ...

began in December 2017.

Release

In June 2018,

and

Topic Studios ''Topic Studios'' is an American film production company owned by First Look Media. The company is known for producing films '' Leave No Trace'' (2018), ''Luce'' (2019), '' The Climb'' (2019), ''The Mauritanian'' (2021). The company also produces ...

acquired distribution rights to the film. It had its world premiere at the

on September 25, 2018. The film was theatrically released on October 12, 2018.

Reception

According to the

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, of critics have given the film a positive review based on reviews, with an average rating of . The website's critics consensus reads, "''The Oath'' draws on hyper-partisan modern politics for a pointedly funny satire that hits its targets hard and often enough to more than achieve its desired discomfort." At

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, the film has a weighted average score of 58 out of 100 based on 27 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Michael O'Sullivan of ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

'' called the film's screenplay "clever and sharp," and wrote it anchors itself as "at times all-too-true-to-life."

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Oath, The 2018 films 2010s political comedy films 2018 black comedy films American black comedy films American comedy thriller films American political comedy films 2018 directorial debut films American dystopian films Films about fictional presidents of the United States Roadside Attractions films Topic Studios films Thanksgiving in films United States presidential succession in fiction 2010s English-language films 2010s American films