I am a big fan of movies with this plot. There are a number of older movies with similar plots that to myself are very engaging. I fear that what makes this less so is the actual shallowness of the actresses and actors making up the cast. A movie like "decoys" has a fine cast, or else time was spent working with them and bringing out their performances. One feels empathy for both sides of the fence in that film. On the other hand, in this movie, though the acting later on is at times competent (but at times not), it is nonetheless next to impossible to root for the heroines or hate the villainous aliens because of weak performances in the earlier portion of the film. We do not see these people early on, with a couple of exceptions, showing any defiance to their trance-like condition as humans. They are cogs in the wheel. Maybe an alien race or Scientology would "bring them out of their pods" and help them experience their possibilities (that appears to be the big joke of the movie).
I am sure that the hope was to get an attractive cast and have them engage in some kinky sex as a subplot, without too much attention to finding truly likable performers. Unfortunately, because the characters don't have that depth, this lesbian and on-the-job sex is mostly uninteresting. If I were making a film and I could not get the leads to appear less shallow than this, or to have more consistency as characters, I would probably blame the culture the performers grew up in. 20 or 30 years ago it would be easy to find a few good character actresses to play these roles, but It could take years to find the right people nowadays, because none of the performers read books or give themselves enough time away from the hedonistic culture they're apart of to learn the art and pleasures of independent and critical thought. Therefore they could have no concept of what a writer, director or audience would need from them in these roles, or the nuances that a story like this one could offer if done well.
What I'm saying is that this genre is particularly dependent on something ironically lacking here, the knowledge of what it means to be freely independent of thought.
I am sure that the hope was to get an attractive cast and have them engage in some kinky sex as a subplot, without too much attention to finding truly likable performers. Unfortunately, because the characters don't have that depth, this lesbian and on-the-job sex is mostly uninteresting. If I were making a film and I could not get the leads to appear less shallow than this, or to have more consistency as characters, I would probably blame the culture the performers grew up in. 20 or 30 years ago it would be easy to find a few good character actresses to play these roles, but It could take years to find the right people nowadays, because none of the performers read books or give themselves enough time away from the hedonistic culture they're apart of to learn the art and pleasures of independent and critical thought. Therefore they could have no concept of what a writer, director or audience would need from them in these roles, or the nuances that a story like this one could offer if done well.
What I'm saying is that this genre is particularly dependent on something ironically lacking here, the knowledge of what it means to be freely independent of thought.