Taron Egerton's Sharp New Horror-Comedy Flips the 'Obsession' Formula | TIFF Review

Published Sep 13, 2026, 1:54 PM EDT

Tania Hussain is an Executive Editor at Collider responsible for creative, editorial, and managerial duties. In addition to leading content ideation and development, she works to generate innovative and compelling ideas for feature articles and reviews with her editorial team across Features, Lists, Reviews, and Interviews. She also serves as the primary editor overseeing Collider’s Signature Series profiles, spotlighting some of the most influential voices in film and television. Tania has helped cover and ideate content for major events for Collider, including the Toronto International Film Festival. She has also conducted more than 100 interviews since her start in the business more than 15 years ago. Some favorites include Joel McHale, Charlie Cox, Jennifer Garner, Tina Fey, Kate Winslet, Bob Odenkirk, Andy Richter, Jordan Schlansky, Jamie Dornan, Yeardley Smith, Rafe Spall, Esther Smith, and a reasonable toss-up between Cookie Monster and Kermit the Frog. She has covered set visits, in-person junkets, and red carpets for several films and TV shows, including most recently, The Sheep Detectives, Masterchef, and Star Trek: Starfleet Academy.

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In Jonathan Schey’s debut feature, Everybody Wants to F*ck Me, Taron Egerton’s charming and charismatic Adam would like you to know he’s a nice guy. He'd like everyone to know that, in fact; that's why he reads the right books, always makes sure he’s watching the right films, carries a Mubi tote bag wherever he goes, and knows exactly how to make a woman feel like she’s met one of the few decent men left in London. Despite his level of awareness of the type of guy he doesn’t want to be, Adam has spent so much of his time building up a convincing image of himself as a "nice guy" that he has never once stopped to ask whether any of it actually makes him a good person at the core. It's this question that powers one of the most surprising films of 2026, which sees director Schey have plenty of fun poking at that idea with several threads.

One of the film’s funniest moments comes when two men (played by Saturday Night Live UK’s Paddy Young and Season 2 newcomer, Freddie Meredith) check out a female barista, calling her gorgeous; Young’s character Josh later admits that he’d like to “make love to her on a bed of baked beans.” It’s crude and ridiculous, but exactly the kind of comment that would inspire Adam to think, “Thank God I’m not that guy.” And that tension may be the joke at the center of this wickedly funny film, because Josh is likely worse — but at least no one has to guess about what he wants. Meanwhile, Adam dresses up his desires so well that even he believes in the facade.

What Is ‘Everybody Wants To F*ck Me’ About?

Image via TIFF 2026

Everybody Wants To F*ck Me begins with a beautiful woman named Olivia (Mia McKenna-Bruce) being hit on at a club by a pushy man who clearly isn’t taking a hint. Thankfully (or at least, we initially believe it's thankfully), Egerton’s Adam steps in. He doesn’t puff his chest or turn it into a macho man competition. Instead, he reads the situation, approaches it “thoughtfully,” and suddenly Olivia is talking to the kind of guy who seems refreshingly different. They click, they talk about the Before Trilogy films, they share a kiss, and then they go home together. The whole thing feels genuinely romantic... until Olivia sleeps in.

By the morning, Adam cannot hide how badly he wants her to leave. Those initial feelings, which felt very real in the moment, have now vanished, replaced with (in Adam's words) a “bojangled headspace.” The scene sets the vibe and tone of Everybody Wants To F*ck Me; it’s a moment that’s ridiculous yet incredibly sharp, as writer-director Schey knows exactly the kind of man he is putting under the microscope. Adam knows how to make women feel safe, wanted, and understood, but is considerably less skilled at dealing with them once the sun comes up.

Adam’s closest friend, Emma (Charly Clive), has seen enough of this routine to know exactly what he is doing, even if he doesn’t. But then Adam meets Sofia (Jessica Henwick) at a theater bar, and for the first time, his charisma isn’t exactly registering with her. Instead, Sofia sees through him and has no problem telling him off, even making fun of his dating profile. This only makes Adam more interested in her, and the two eventually end up back at her place, which he initially finds a little suspicious as she lives with a commune of people. It’s at this point that the film, which has set itself up like a cutesy London rom-com, takes a darker turn into thriller territory. After an intimate moment bordering on what Adam assumes is a sexual fetish, he wakes the next morning to see Sofia is gone, along with any memory of their evening.

It's then that things begin to take a turn, and the changes are very apparent. Suddenly, women cannot get enough of Adam. Whether it’s strangers staring at him on the street or women at work behaving aggressively, what initially feels like an ego boost quickly becomes unsettling and eventually dangerous. It leaves Adam scared as he tries to figure out what Sofia did to him or if he’s just losing his mind altogether, before the film goes completely wild in its final act.

Schey’s Writing Gives ‘Everybody Wants To F*ck Me’ More Bite Than Its Premise Suggests

While Schey designs each act as its own evolution, that unpredictability becomes part of the fun as the horror-comedy keeps finding new ways to make Adam really understand the situation. But as the film’s genre-bending writing makes it out to be, things get so much worse. Just as important, though, is how much care the writer-director puts into the character himself. It would have been very easy to write Adam as some walking punchline, but Everybody Wants To F*ck Me is much more interested in the space between who Adam thinks he is and the person everyone else has to deal with.

This is also where a lot of the humor comes from. Adam isn’t explicitly a “bad person;” in fact, he's really trying to be thoughtful. But as the sharply written observations reveal, much of that “thoughtfulness” is rooted in unconscious bias that shapes some of his conditioning. He is very good at finding words and expressions to make his selfish choices sound much nicer than they are; a phrase like “bojangled headspace” is funny because it is a strange way to avoid saying the most obvious thing. Meanwhile, Emma calling his dating habits “romantic terrorism” is funnier because after spending enough time with him, it starts to feel true. Schey keeps giving Adam terms and words to hide behind on his dating profile chats that look innocent enough, then lets the people around him tear him apart for it.

The script also gets sharper the more we learn about what Adam actually wants, and sex is only part of it. We can see he enjoys the rush of making a woman feel special and having her look at him like he might be different from other men. It’s this aspect of Schey’s writing that helps the film move from comedy to thriller to horror (with a whiff of body horror) without losing Egerton’s character in the process. Each shift is a natural extension of the same bad situation, rather than the movie suddenly changing its mind about what should happen next. Thankfully, as things get weirder across its 97-minute run, the dialogue never loses focus and stays dry and grounded, making some of those stranger moments even funnier (or scarier). While there are a few places where the final act tries to explain a little too much, by then, the film has built enough character and momentum that Schey’s debut outlives that bit of messiness.

Egerton Is the Perfect Man for ‘Everybody Wants To F*ck Me’

Image via TIFF 2026

One of the reasons Adam works so well as a protagonist is because of Egerton. He’s charming enough that you understand why women fall for him. But he never feels like some mustache-twirling mastermind who hates women. Instead, there is a slightly panicked, deer-in-the-headlights quality Egerton holds in Adam that makes him more likable than he probably should be. Even when he’s making terrible choices, Egerton keeps him human, which makes the darker turns hit harder. The best part of his performance is how he also throws himself into the movie’s sillier moments — which is important, because the comedy could fall apart if he ever acted through arrogance.

Meanwhile, Henwick is a great match for Egerton, as her Sofia never seems impressed by Adam in a way he expects people to be. Henwick’s performance has a cool edge with enough humor that their scenes never feel flat. There is a strong mystery to her as well that she plays with a striking sense of control, even if we don’t know Sofia’s experience or the backstory of why she reacts to Adam the way she does. But it’s also something that isn’t all that necessary because her enigmatic persona is what makes the film work, and the tension she plays against Egerton keeps things exciting.

In supporting roles, Clive brings a warmer, sharper energy as Emma, the person who knows Adam well enough to call him out without giving up on him. She plays this almost with a Rosalind Russell vibe through whip-smart delivery and expressions. On the other hand, Adam’s co-worker Rachel, played by Antonia Clarke, also gets one of the movie’s most uncomfortable turns, pushing the story from funny into genuinely unsettling territory. And then there are the sprinkles of supporting roles that include the likes of McKenna-Bruce, Young, and Meredith, who all make an impression with very little screen time and help propel the story or even understand its idea even better. But more importantly, these characters each give Schey’s ideas a human edge. Everybody Wants To F*ck Me might be one of the year’s wildest horror-comedy films with delicious twists, but the performances keep it from ever feeling empty.

Cast

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  Sophie Simnett

  Grace

• Antonia Clarke

  Rachel

Everybody Wants to F*ck Me is an upcoming dark comedy thriller set in London’s modern dating scene. The film centers on a man who has perfected the image of being the ideal partner, only to discover that multiple women are stalking him, turning his carefully constructed persona into a dangerous nightmare.

Pros & Cons

• Taron Egerton gives one of his funniest, most charming performances yet.
• Jonathan Schey's writing keeps the satire sharp without making Adam a cartoon.
• The genre shifts from comedy to thriller to horror are wild, funny, and surprisingly smooth.

• Sofia's backstory is kept so vague that some viewers may want more.
• The final act explains a little more than it needs to.