A gimmicky thriller stretches suspension of disbelief on streaming

Timur Bekmambetov gained international attention as the director of the stylishly bonkers fantasy duo Day Watch and Night Watch, before making a splash in Hollywood with smash hit action blockbuster Wanted. In the years since, though, he’s focused more on producing, with the Screenlife gimmick becoming something of a passion.

While the format has expanded to include non-Bekmambetov titles like Host, Spree, DASHCAM, and others, the filmmaker’s Bazelevs Company banner have been instrumental in developing and distributing Searching, Unfriended, sequel Dark Web, and Profile, the latter of which sat on the shelf for over three years between its February 2018 premiere and eventual May 2021 release.

That may seem a little strange when you consider how well Screenlife has largely performed from a critical and commercial perspective, but while Profile did ultimately manage to secure healthy Rotten Tomatoes scores of 61 and 75 percent from reviews and audiences respectively, it couldn’t even crack $2 million at the box office.

That being said, the general apathy may have had something to do with the plot that could be interpreted as sensationalism, seeing as Profile follows a British journalist who goes undercover on the internet to infiltrate the Islamic State, before Valene Kane’s Amy Whittaker finds herself succumbing to increasing danger and pressure, which is often punctuated by bursts of unintentional hilarity and preposterous plot machinations.

Not that HBO Max subscribers have been dissuaded, with the overlooked Screenlife experiment riding the crest of a wave on streaming, having secured enough Top 10 chart positions to pop up on the platform’s worldwide watch-list, per FlixPatrol. The medium isn’t for everyone, but if you’re willing to invest , then Profile may just be worth 105 minutes of your time.