The 2024 thriller follows Ryan, a struggling American chef buried in gambling debt, who escapes to a villa in an unnamed Latin American country to visit his old friend Jack, a private chef living in luxury. After a sudden death, Ryan takes over Jack’s identity and job cooking for wealthy clients, only to discover their operation involves sourcing and serving human flesh. The story builds suspense around greed, envy, moral compromise, and the depravity of extreme wealth through dark twists and horror elements, with a visible but restrained class critique of elite excess delivered via shocking plot reveals rather than direct lectures.
Why 16%? See the score breakdownBreakdown
These are the editorial factors and ratings behind our score for What You Wish For.
Woke representation / casting
Casting centers on a white American male lead facing personal troubles, with Latino supporting actors fitting the Latin American setting and local roles. No audience-visible quota patterns, identity signaling, girlboss dominance, or mismatched competence based on race or gender.
10%
Woke political dialogue
The film uses suspense, visual reveals, and plot twists rather than spoken political or activist dialogue. No lectures on identity, systemic issues, or modern social-justice themes.
5%
Identity-driven story themes
The narrative highlights greed, envy, moral compromise, and exploitation through a cannibalism plot involving wealthy clients and local victims. This creates a mild class critique of elite depravity, but it stays within dark thriller/horror conventions and balances blame across characters rather than advancing identity politics or representation-first messaging.
20%
Western institutional / cultural critique
The story shows the amorality of extreme wealth and those who enable it via horror elements. It does not target traditional Western institutions, patriarchy, Christianity, gender norms, or conservative values in an activist style.
10%
Woke character or canon changes
Not relevant. This is an original story with no established characters, source material, or historical figures altered for identity or DEI purposes.
0%
Anti-woke backlash and complaints
No notable anti-woke or right-leaning complaints accusing the film of pushing identity politics, DEI agendas, or activist messaging. Some viewers specifically highlighted its lack of such content.
0%
Creator track record context
Nicholas Tomnay’s films, including the 2010 thriller The Perfect Host, focus on psychological suspense and genre twists with no documented history of social-justice, identity-driven, or activist themes. Mateo Guzmán Sánchez works professionally as a cinematographer on independent and international films with no public record of political or identity-focused activism.
5%
Production
