This movie lives and dies upon Hugh Grant's performance, and, thankfully, Grant is up to the job. Of course, any great acting performance usually requires someone or something to perform with or against. Abbott had Costello, Bogart had Bergman, and Tom Hanks had Wilson. Here, Grant's opponent is Chloe East, who plays one of two young missionary girls that show up at Grant's door without a clue about how the rest of their day is going to go.

For the most part, the characters are confined to a small set space. This requires a lot of talking, and it's up to the three actors to turn the surroundings into a claustrophobic environment that conveys the trap that one of them has set, and for the directors and cinematographer to capture it. For much of the proceedings, this done to great effect.

It's only toward the end that things unravel, but just a little. Many movies can ratchet up the tension, but then fail to do anything with it. Great performances are spoiled by the lack of the screenplay to stick the landing. Here, we have the trap, the reveal, the confrontation, and the attempted escape. The missionary girls are mice caught in a maze created by what appears to be a kindly gentleman, and we're watching it all play out. Some of the elements fail to survive retrospection, however.

Unlike some other mystery movies, this is not a movie that I think I'll ever watch again. For such movies, it can be entertaining to see everything come to its conclusion, it's often more entertaining to watch it all over again and pick up on the clues that were there if only we had noticed them. The Illusionist does this very well, which makes it enjoyable to watch from time to time, even when you know the outcome. While this movie was interesting to watch, I don't think it warrants watching multiple times. It is worth watching, though, so check it out on your favorite streaming subscription or rent for a good price. It's not worth owning because of the one-time enjoyment factor.