Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Time Share’ On Netflix, About A Mexican Resort That Makes Two Men Very Paranoid

Ever been to a family resort, especially one offering time shares? It’s a little creepy, isn’t it? They offer you a chance at joining a new “family” and experience “paradise,” when all they’re really after is getting you to spend money on something you’ll never use. Time Share (original title: Tiempo Compartido) is a Mexican film that finds a family man in that exact situation. Is it as creepy as it is in real life?

TIME SHARE: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

The Gist: A man sobs in the bowels of what looks to be some sort of recreational location. His wife comes in to encourage him, and he puts on his headset to go out and run family activities or a Mexican resort. He snaps while leading a sack race and is taken away.

Five years later, a man named Pedro (Luis Gerardo Méndez) and his family enter a gorgeous villa on the same resort’s property. Pedro’s wife Eva (Cassandra Ciangherotti) wonders how they can afford the spacious villa with its own pool; little does she know that it’s a time share, and Pedro signed up to watch a sales presentation in exchange for a highly discounted rate.

Not long after they arrive, a man named Abel (Andrés Almeida) and his family shows up, claiming that they, too, have reservations for the villa. The two take a golf cart to the main office to settle the dispute. While Abel takes the generous apology package the resort’s new parent company offers him to not complain, Pedro refuses, and is disgusted that he and his family have to share this villa with Abel’s boisterous brood.

Meanwhile, a housekeeping employee named Andres (Miguel Rodarte) goes about his job, even while in the midst of treatment after a breakdown a few years back. He’s a highly-thought-of employee, as is his wife Gloria (Montserrat Marañon), who seems to have emotionally moved on from Andres since his breakdown.

As he ferries sheets and towels to the laundry, Andres notices that Eva is wearing a red blazer and sitting in a sales training seminar led by the new owner’s persuasive sales executive Tom (RJ Mitte). He’s alternately annoyed that he was never considered — his boss was told that it wasn’t his decision — and concerned that Tom’s message of loyalty to the “family” of the hotel’s owner is getting inside Gloria’s head.

Back at the villa, Pedro continues to think that Abel and his family are turning Gloria against him by saying that they’re “family” as well. His paranoia comes to a head during a sales presentation headed by Goria and Tom.

What Movies Will It Remind You Of?: Time Share is kind of Stepford Wives-esque, with people fighting being indoctrinated into some sort of cult-like organization that seems to be claiming their loved ones.

Performance Worth Watching: Rodarte is very good as Andres, who is barely keeping things together while he looks at history repeating itself.

Memorable Dialogue: “You’ve been here in the gutter for a long time,” Andres’ boss tells him. “You can’t leave until you’ve become waste… Or until you are spared. That’s the only exit.”

Single Best Shot: The foreboding shot of Gloria getting special attention from Tom while Andres “happens” to walk in on their one-on-one was pretty good.

Sex and Skin: Besides Pedro wanting to make out with Eva when they get to the villa, things are pretty chaste.

Our Take: Time Share has its strong points: Director Sebastián Hofmann effectively amps up the paranoia and darkness surrounding this mysterious resort with many foreboding sunset shots, lights in strange places (like a golf cart), and a soundtrack that sounds like a warped record and makes you feel a little uneasy. The performances from the leads, as well as Ciangherotti as the Eva, who seemingly is the member of Pedro’s family who has her head on straight, are very good.

But it feels like there are too many pieces of the puzzle missing for the viewer to settle in and enjoy themselves. What happened with Andres? Why does he blame the resort for what’s happened to his family? And, is Abel’s family really a way for the hotel to sell the time share to Pedro’s family or is it all in Pedro’s head? What exactly does the new company that owns the resort, represented by Mitte’s character Tom, do differently than the one that owned it five years ago, when we saw the man losing it during the family sack race?

Sometimes a movie leaves a little too much to the imagination, and Time Share does just that. It took us a full day to figure out what the significance of the first scene was, even if it left us with still more questions. That’s just far too subtle for our tastes, and if Hofmann dropped a few more clues along the way, we probably would have enjoyed the movie’s twists and turns more, and not have been annoyed that it took a full day for us to figure out the biggest twist of them all.

By the way, it’s refreshing to see Mitte, who most people know as Walter White Jr. in Breaking Bad, play a role that has nothing to do with the fact that he has cerebral palsy. And he does a hell of a job playing the persuasive and slimy Tom in the few scenes he’s in.

Our Call: STREAM IT. Its got its flaws, but if you pay close attention, Time Share is an entertaining squirm-fest.

Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, VanityFair.com, Playboy.com, Fast Company’s Co.Create and elsewhere.

Watch Time Share on Netflix