It seems a film like FOMO: Fear of Missing Out should feel timely and important – an exploration and takedown of the dangerous consequences of toxic masculinity – but it’s disappointingly untactful. FOMO follows Gergö (Yorgosz Goletsas) a member of the destructive, yet popular, teen-internet group “The Wolves”, who is dared into taking advantage of his crush Lilla (Panna László) at a party. The film attempts to drill into what makes men commit such horrific acts, but its focus is wrong – having an abuser as the main character leaves us with no one to root for, and while there are several examples of men doing bad things in the film, the fact that they’re committed by a group of YouTubers for content seems more a comment on internet culture than modern masculinity.

In a scramble for more plot, Lilla disappears and The Wolves turn into a search party, spearheaded by Gergö attempting to make amends. While FOMO doesn’t disregard the trauma of abuse or pardon an irredeemable character, the very hint of the idea that forgiveness could be achieved is tone-deaf. This should have been Lilla’s story, not Gergö’s.

Unfortunately, there’s not much else worthy of note. The found-footage party scenes are Skins-esque montages that are as tedious as skipping through a friend’s Instagram story after they’ve been on a night out. Every revelation about masculinity is surface level, and while it might have been thought-provoking if you were shown it in a Year 10 assembly, as a theatrical film, it’s a misfire.

While its intentions are noble, FOMO is mostly a NONO that offers no real answers to what is admittedly a tricky question, resulting in a disappointingly shallow exploration of toxic masculinity that culminates in a conclusion that is unsatisfying (although stops short of being offensive).

RATING: 2/5

INFORMATION

CAST: Yorgosz Goletsas, Panna László, Bouquet Gergely 

DIRECTOR: Attila Hartung

WRITERS: Attila Hartung, Yvonne Kerékgyártó

SYNOPSIS: One night, at a party, a dare gets out of hand and Gergö and his teenage friends’ world changes forever overnight.