Magpie (2024) review

Married couple Annette (Daisy Ridley) and Ben (Shazad Latif) are not getting along, so when Ben takes their daughter Matilda (Hiba Ahmed), a child performer, to the set of the new period film she was cast in, he becomes enamored with sultry Italian actress Alicia (Matilda Lutz), which makes an already emotionally fragile Annette more enraged.  It's a rather redundant and totally underwritten entry in the recent deluge of #YesAllMen movies: Ben's a miserable jerk who is constantly mean to his wife, she breaks down frequently (she even cuts her hand on a mirror), he's always texting Alicia and following her around ... and the moment Matilda (conveniently) goes missing, it doesn't faze him because he thinks he's going to get lucky.  The movie, which was written by Daisy's real-life husband Tom Bateman, doesn't even bother mentioning what kinds of books Ben is supposedly known for writing and only depicts him as a serial cheater (who is prone to gaslighting) ... and aside from a lunch date with a former co-worker, it's never brought up what Annette's life was like before she had their second child.  Also, I don't think it's healthy to try to kill off a disloyal companion: just leave that person and save yourself the aggravation.