‘Echo Valley’ review: even Sydney Sweeney and Julianne Moore can’t save this hollow thriller

Despite a nondescript title that sounds like a budget wine, this twisty thriller certainly looked promising. Its screenplay was written by Brad Ingelsby, the writer-creator of HBO’s brilliant crime miniseries Mare Of Easttown, and the casting screams prestige – Julianne Moore and Sydney Sweeney playing a mother and daughter whose fraught relationship is tested even further when small-time drug dealer Jackie (Domhnall Gleeson) shows up demanding money. Yes please.

When we meet Kate Garrett (Moore), she’s struggling to move on after the death of her wife Patty (Kristina Valada-Viars), with whom she ran an equine farm in rural Pennsylvania. In a low moment, she tells old friend Jessie (Killing Eve‘s Fiona Shaw) that she wouldn’t get out of bed if it weren’t for the horses. A scene in which the two women get drunk on wine and dance to Robyn‘s ‘Dancing On My Own’ hints at a film with richer characterisation and a little more levity that sadly never materialises.

Kate is land-rich but cash-poor, so she has to ask her exasperated ex-husband Richard (Kyle McLachlan) for money to fix her barn. Richard still has feelings for Kate even though she broke up their family, but also blames her for enabling their daughter Claire (Sydney Sweeney), a troubled junkie who’s in and out of rehab. In fairness, he has a point. When Claire gets home after a major bender and says she’s accidentally killed her sketchy boyfriend Ryan (Edmund Donovan), Kate steps in to clean up her mess.

In fact, she takes it upon herself to find the dead body and dump it in the local lake. She also gives Jackie, who knows about Claire’s association with Ryan, her last $10,000 to get him off their backs. At this point, Echo Valley really piles on the plot twists and requires a pretty hefty suspension of disbelief to get to the end.

Director Michael Pearce, who previously made 2021’s decent crime thriller Encounter starring Riz Ahmed, keeps the pace brisk but never really punches up the source material. An artless shot of Kate staring at a ceiling crack – one Patty was promising to fix before her death – is a clumsy reminder of her unresolved grief. Moore and Sweeney both turn in solid performances, but it seems a shame to pair these firecracker actresses without letting them produce real emotional sparks.

The final twist is clever and unexpected enough to feel satisfying, even if you’ve suspected all along that Moore’s character must be wilier than she lets on. But because this workmanlike movie never truly makes you care about its characters, some of the shock value is lost. Like a bargain bottle of plonk, Echo Valley has some of the right top notes, but is let down by its lack of depth. It’s certainly not good enough to share with a friend.