PLOT SUMMARY: While on vacation with her friend, Beth wakes up after a night of partying to find Kate missing.
Friendships become an integral part of our lives. It is the connections we make when we leave the comfort of our homes and the protection of our parents.
Friendships become more meaningful for us as time passes and deeper and stronger. It comes to a point where you end up trusting your friend with everything.
So what happens when a friend betrays you?
THE WEEKEND AWAY Movie Plot
Beth has just arrived in Croatia to spend a few days with her friend Kate. The trip is all paid for by Kate who tells her that she's using her ex-husband, Jay's credit card to the limit. Beth's tax driver introduces himself as Zain and gives her his card.
Beth gifts Kate a black onyx necklace and thanks her for inviting it. While wearing it, one of the beads falls off and Beth feels embarrassed because she bought it online.
Kate doesn't mind and promises Beth they will have a lot of fun. She hugs her but makes an odd face.
While dressing up in the evening, Beth has a video call with her husband Rob and her newborn Aster.
Beth feels off because Kate is well-dressed and perky. She says her hellos to Rob and then Rob makes an excuse to put Aster to bed. It is learned that Kate and Rob knew each other before she became friends with Beth. Kate was the one who introduced Beth to Rob.
While leaving, they run into Sebastian who is the owner of the house they are renting. He too gives an odd look to the two women. Clearly, something is up.
At dinner, Beth confides in Kate about a rough patch she's facing in her marriage after the baby was born. Kate advices Beth to leave her husband. Beth of course doesn't agree with her. Kate then eyes two men at the bar and tells Beth they need to have fun. Beth isn't too keen.
The two men come over and they buy Kate and Beth drinks and also start flirting with them. Beth awkwardly shows them pictures of her baby.
There's a lot of drinking, a scene which seems like Beth had an argument with Kate, and then Kate cursing.
Beth wakes up alone in her room and can't find Kate anywhere. She contacts Rob who tells her that Kate probably went off on a shopping trip because she didn't want to go on the planned biking trip. Beth feels like something is up and asks Sebastian who informs her that she isn't allowed to bring guests over. He also behaves cagey.
Beth straight calls Zain who takes her to the tourist police station. She meets with an officer called Pavic who seems disinterested in filing a report because he feels Kate may he fooling around somewhere. When another Detective asks as to the nature of the conversation, Pavic dismisses her and makes a casual remark about Beth being unnecessarily worried about a friend who hooked up with someone else and didn't inform her. The other Detective leaves and Beth, who doesn't speak the native language, thinks nothing of it.
Beth then enlists Zain's help who remembers which bar he took her and Kate to. At the bar, the bartender isn't forthcoming to any information and Zain has to intervene and speak to him in Croatian. The bartender relents and tells them that the two guys who had gone with them were escorts hired by Kate.
Beth is shocked that Kate would do that to her and get her drunk just so she can cheat on her husband. Zain contacts the escorts on the pretext of hiring them. At the restaurant, Zain and Beth get talking about how nice and trusting they both are. Zain reveals he lost his wife and that he doesn't want to officially go to the police because that would steer the investigation away from a missing Kate and focus on his immigration status.
The escorts arrive and since Beth has her back against the entrance, they don't see her. When they approach the table, they take one look at Beth and flee. Zain gives chase and Beth manages to give chase in a skirt.
Zain catches up with one of them and threatens to throw him off. He reveals he didn't kill Kate but that they drugged women and stole from them. He also reveals he pawned off the purse.
Beth goes to the pawn shop to retrieve the purse from an apologetic pawnshop owner who had no idea the purse was stolen. Zain gives him a look. Of course the owner knew it was stolen. Eye roll.
Beth goes to the police station with this new information but doesn't give away Zain's name. The investigation finally begins for Kate's disappearance.
Zain and Beth spend enough time together for Rob to get suspicious when he drops by unexpectedly. He tells Beth she shouldn't be trusting Zain but Beth feels like she needs to follow her heart.
Soon enough, Beth receives a phone call. Kate's body has been found in the river. Beth goes to see her and has a breakdown. She sees Kate's phone and decides to nick it. Of course she can't open it because of the pass lock.
Rob consoles her but also tells her she needs to leave with him and go back to their baby. Beth asks for some more time to grieve for Kate.
The next day, she requests Pavic to let her see Kate's body one more time. She sees her friend and then unlocks the phone and turns off the lock settings.
She then makes excuses to go to the bathroom and read all the messages. She sees several calls were made to someone called Handyman. She calls the number and reaches Rob's number. Beth is shocked. She then reads messages and finds out that Rob was having an affair with Kate and he wanted to desperately see her.
That would explain why Rob just popped in without informing Beth he was coming to Croatia.
She calls up Rob and screams at him for having an affair with Kate. He initially denies it but then admits it is true. Beth does all of this in front of her dressing table mirror.
Later, Beth is called to the police station again and told that the autopsy revealed that there were drugs in her and Kate's system. The escorts denied drugging them and Beth pretty much asks them how they can believe them, but the detectives do because they are locals after all and Beth is not. She is also informed that she has been seen with Zain who was involved in organized crime. Beth is shocked but the shocks don't end here. She is accused of using "connections" to murder Kate for having an affair with her husband.
The detectives gloat that they found this information even though Beth didn't tell them. They have no concrete proof however and so confiscate her passport.
Beth confronts Zain who tells her that the only reason he knows the gang is because they brought him into the country and that she should trust her heart when he says he had nothing to to with Kate's murder.
Beth ponders on her next step and wonders how the police even found out about Rob and Kate. The only witness to her conversation with Rob was the mirror. She inspects the mirror and finds a camera.
When Sebastian leaves the house, Beth plays Detective and sneaks into his private room where she finds out that the owner of the house is a voyeur. But his voyeurism proves to be advantageous to Beth who searches for the recordings on the night Kate disappeared.
She finds out that she had passed out and that Kate and the escorts had put her to bed. Later Kate and the escorts were heading to the jacuzzi when Kate went off for a bit giving the escorts the opportunity to steal her purse and run away. Kate had been uttering curses at them, not Beth as she had thought she remembered.
Kate is then seen going outside in a taxi and then coming back in another car. Beth notes down the license plate number. She's so engrossed by what she's watching that she doesn't notice Sebastian entering the house again.
Beth is found out and tries to escape but Sebastian tries to delete all recordings first. He is knocked out and Beth runs and is assisted by Zain once again.
But while wondering how to go about the investigation, Beth finds that her photo is on the news and labelled as a suspect. The police arrive promptly and Zain tells Beth to run.
THE WEEKEND AWAY Ending Explained with Spoilers!
Beth notices the license plate number and realizes the car belongs to Pavic. She now understands why the Detective had been so reluctant to file the report when she first reported Kate missing.
She runs for it and reaches an abandoned building where Pavic corners her. She screams at him that she knows he killed Kate and the other Detective is nearby to listen. Pavic doesn't admit or deny the allegation before he trips and falls down.
The other Detective late tells Beth how Pavic had a history or assaulting women when he worked in vice which is why instead of being suspended he was transferred to tourism. She apologizes to Beth and declares her innocent, also returning her passport.
Beth thanks Zain for his help with a hug. Hopefully Zain is also thanked by the police and not deported?
Some time has passed and Beth and Rob have apparently separated. She goes to his house to drop Aster and refuses Rob's offer at reconciliation.
She is then looking for keys in Rob's pockets when she finds a single black onyx bead. It still isn't clear how that ends up in Rob's possession.
She makes excuses and goes into the bathroom to call the Detective, stating that it isn't over. The police are alerted to come over.
She confronts Rob who tells her that he did have an affair with Kate and that her friend was going to tell her that. She didn't want to hang out with Beth but reveal the affair. Rob had come to Croatia to stop her and they have a fight which results in Kate being pushed into the rocks after which she rolled over and fell into the river.
Beth tells him Kate hadn't died when she hit her head but had drowned. Rob is shocked. He tells Beth to promise she won't tell the police anything. But surprise...Beth was recording the entire conversation.
The police arrive and arrest Rob while Beth runs out with Aster.
The end.
The movie suffers from a dull storyline and slow pacing. The twists are neither shocking nor well executed. The focus seems more on showing the beauty of Croatia rather than the mystery.
The actors do a decent job with the dull script that clearly requires a lot of thrills.
A lot of things fall conveniently in Beth's lap, for example, the taxi driver going out of his way to help, or the escorts readily giving up information. Pavic's death scene was almost comical which is sad because he was somewhat a decent villain in this insipid flick.
Scare scale: 2/5
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