Well into Lurker, a gripping melodrama about a sociopathic striver who burrows his way into the clique of a pop star, said striver is stopped on the street. An awe-struck stranger has recognized Matthew (Théodore Pellerin) from the celebrity’s Instagram posts, and wants some advice on how to follow in his footsteps. “You inspire me to be myself,” he gushes. But sandwiched between the awkward flattery is an embarrassing admission: He has no idea what Matthew “does,” exactly. In fact, he wonders — eagerly, as if ready to jot down study notes on the spot — “What do you, like … do?”
There it is — an illustrative, if not definitive, query for our current times. What does anyone these days do, really? As the hustle culture/gig economy/social media influencer ecosystem has swallowed entire industries and corners of life, enticing everyone from doctors to gym rats to teachers to develop public personas in pursuit of gaining “followers,” living has meaninglessly become “content.” Fame and celebrity are old concepts, but gaining attention for merely being banal used to be a lot rarer than it is now. In 2025, it’s a career path.
In his feature debut, Lurker‘s writer and director Alex Russell gets this paradox just right, on top of a lot of other icky facets of human existence. Matthew begins the film as a gawky, colorless 20-something working in an L.A. clothing store, the kind of boutique establishment where there’s more visible open space than there is merchandise for sale. During a shift he catches the attention of Oliver (Archie Madekwe), a mid-tier pop star who makes lo-fi R&B-adjacent music but who has outsized aspirations of channeling the legendary Nile Rodgers with his next project. The next thing Matthew knows, he’s invited backstage for one of Oliver’s shows, peering directly into his inner-circle from just outside.
Russell has written for the high-stress restaurant “comedy” The Bear and the bleak road-rage showdown Beef, and understands how to play and sustain the many rhythms of in-group dynamics. Early scenes in which Matthew starts lingering around Oliver and his small crew of devoted yes-people unfold as if this were middle school, with Matthew as the unpopular kid who’s only invited to the party because the parents insisted no classmate should feel excluded.
It’s top-shelf cringe: At first everyone either ignores him, mocks him, or looks at him sideways, stirring up intense feelings of both second-hand embarrassment (for the viewer) and hilarity (also for the viewer; one of Oliver’s hangers-on is played by the reliably goofy Zack Fox, i.e. Janine’s scrubby ex Tariq on Abbott Elementary). Clearly, the flighty Oliver has a habit of cycling new blood in and out fairly regularly. As Shai (Havana Rose Liu), the sole woman of the bunch — and seemingly the most responsible — warns Matthew bluntly: “You should make yourself useful if you want to stick around.”
