Asort of wannabe Dog Day Afternoon for the posh millennial LA art-world set, 86 Melrose Avenue has high ambitions to be a psychologically sophisticated hostage drama but lacks the acting, directing, and writing chops to pull such a grand scenario off convincingly.
The tonal discrepancies in the film are so jarringly wide—oscillating abruptly from an almost satirical flippancy to deadly seriousness throughout—that the gravely serious points it tries to make about the hidden demons that can torment even the most seemingly well-adjusted person often get lost amid incredibly bad dramatic choices and misplaced priorities when it comes to foregrounding the most important themes of the film.