Movie Review: 'Habit' Starring Bella Thorne

Habit stars Bella Thorne as a party-girl turned drug dealer after she’s fired from yet another in a series of low paying gigs. With her friends, Addy (Andrea Pejic) and Evie (Libby Mintz), Bella will be selling drugs, supplied to them by a former TV star, Eric (Gavin Rossdale), at a nightclub. Unfortunately, all three friends end up partying a little too much and after taking the party back to their apartment, they wake up to find $8,000 in cash and drugs stolen.

It’s bad news enough with how Eric will be upset with the loss but it’s much worse than Eric’s disapproving words that are at stake. Eric is deeply in debt to Queenie (Josie Ho), a dangerous and unpredictable drug dealer who doesn’t merely want her money back. Queenie wants to use Eric and his trio of dealers as a lesson to other drug dealers not to mess with Queenie. Queenie plans to slaughter every one of them.

In a slightly less dangerous development, Bella, Addy and Evie, have been evicted from their apartment and they have nowhere to go. That’s when Bella has an epiphany. Seeing a Nun collecting donations on a street corner, and being a loud and proud lover of Jesus herself, Bella hits on the idea to dress as Nuns and collect donations while claiming that the money is intended to start a new convent.

But, they still need a place to stay while they collect enough money to move. That’s when fate steps in to connect Bella with a rich blind woman who happens to often take in Nuns in need of a place to stay. This might appear to be a very convenient development, and it is, but Bella believes that it was divine intervention, Jesus saw that she needed a place to stay and provided for her and her friends. The convenient nature of this plot development thus becomes a satire of Bella’s committed belief in J.C.

Habit has a number of clever touches where pieces of coincidence coalesce into ironic commentaries on Bella’s questionable version of faith in God and love of Jesus Christ. The title Habit is one as Bella wears a habit, a nun costume, first in her role as a hard partying nightclub drug dealer and then again when she launches a money making scheme. But Habit also refers to Bella's drug habit, a long running addiction to heroin, an addiction that nearly kills her.

Habit was co-written and directed by newcomer and Corpus Christi, Texas native Janell Shirtcliff. In her first feature, co-written with her best friend and supporting star, Libby Mintz, Habit is a bold and darkly hilarious debut. Shirtcliff’s loose structure and witty writing are a winning combination for a movie that might be a tough sell for mainstream audiences but will surely find a supportive niche among fans of dark comedy and star Bella Thorne, a budding cult icon.

Thorne has become a magnet for the press and has been written up in numerous gossip columns which follow her every movie, but also featured in the L.A Times and Forbes for her savvy image enhancing entrepreneurial activities. Thorne has created a small empire via her growing social media influence which includes 18 million instagram followers, six and a half million Twitter followers ,and millions of YouTube and Only fans subscribers.

Thorne is the perfect canvas for the transgressive humor of Habit which turns on the conceit of a sinner who thinks she is a saint and appears to be one of God’s favorites in how things seem to work out in her favor. Thorne is wildly charismatic and under Shirtcliff’s direction she effortlessly holds this center of the aggressive religious satire in Habit. Thorne is the rare performer who wields full control over her seductive powers. No matter how she’s presented, she appears to be in complete control of how she is being presented, she’s not being exploited, she’s using her own exploitation to control the audience.

A pair of cameos also add to the transgressive fun of Habit. Rocker Gavin Rossdale is a real scene stealer as a former child star turned in over his head drug dealer. The Bush frontman earns a couple good laughs and holds his own opposite Thorne's forceful charisma. Also sharing the screen well with Thorne is Paris Jackson, famed daughter of The King of Pop who takes on the role of Jesus herself.

Habit is Rated-R but not for nudity. Sexuality, drug use, and violence? Yes, but not nudity. Habit will be in a limited theatrical release and available streaming rental as of August 20th, 2021. On a side note, fans of movie title fonts will likely note how Habit uses the same font as Quentin Tarentino used for Pulp Fiction. It's a slab serif font called Aachen, for you font nerds out there.