Jordan Peele’s 2017 directorial debut Get Out was widely accepted as one of the best entries of that year in the horror genre, and two years later he’s making the smart decision to stay in the same category with his film Us.

Upsettingly, however, the new movie is a mess.

Us is a home invasion movie that makes a successful attempt at being unique. However, plot elements that are so confusing that they’ve never been tried before shouldn’t be praised just because they maintain originality

An interesting concept is as easy to get excited for as it is for that same concept to fall apart entirely. Only 30 minutes into the film and too many critiques of society have already been sloppily thrown at the viewer.

It doesn’t help that the characters delivering these messages have only a slightly above average acting ability, with the only standout performance coming from one of the two adults in the film. The other is sadly nothing more than a walking cliché with wasted talent behind it.

The writing is just as ham-fisted. There are so many inconsistencies with the script that it feels like Peele took an actual hole puncher and removed key parts of the screenplay just so he could go to interviews spouting the same old “it’s up for interpretation” line fans always hear from directors.Us fails to present a cohesive story beyond its surface level, but it’s difficult not to dig deeper when the film pretty much begs it’s audience to navigate all its problems to find a greater meaning within its two-hour runtime.