Is your bank account looking a little blank this year end? We’ve all considered desperate measures between gift shopping and latte sipping, but perhaps none quite as frankly bonkers as the plan at the heart of the upcoming Saudi comedy caper, The Fakenapping. Landing on Netflix this December, just in time to serve as a hilarious cautionary tale, this new film from the satirically sharp minds at Telfaz11 promises a delicious descent into absolute chaos.
Meet Sattam, played by the charismatic (and former Esquire cover star) Mohammed AlDokhei. He’s a dreamer drowning in debt and fresh out of good options. His solution? A truly terrible idea: stage a “fake” kidnapping of his own famously stingy father to extract a ransom. Naturally, what follows is a comedy of errors that spirals faster than a dropped shawarma. Expect a glorious mess of hapless friends, looming loan sharks, and the kind of escalating family brouhaha that makes your own relatives look positively functional.
Why watch? Aside from the guaranteed belly laughs and a cheeky social mirror held up to our collective money anxieties, the film boasts a buzzworthy cameo from actual football royalty, Saeed Al-Owairan. It’s sharp, it’s silly, and it’s a visually stylish ride.
So, pour some tea, settle into the sofa, and catch The Fakenapping on Netflix from December 11. Your own dad will thank you for not getting ideas.