Karen (film)

Malik and Imani are a young black couple who move into a new house in Harvey Hill, a suburb of Atlanta, next to the home of Harvey Hill Homeowners Association president Karen Drexler. Karen is quick to introduce herself to Malik; she refuses to shake his hand, makes a callous comment about not "having any cash" in her home, and installs a security camera in the direction of their house. Although Malik and Imani are perplexed by Karen's behavior, they decide to ignore their concerns and focus on settling in.

Unbeknownst to the both of them, Karen is virulently racist, with Neo-Confederate memorabilia in her home and a reputation for abusing her power as president to target local black residents, often recruiting her equally racist brother, patrolman Mike Wind, to help. She soon starts harassing and stalking Malik and Imani, trying to find something she can use to get them out of Harvey Hill. She discovers that Malik smokes marijuana and catches her son watching the couple have sex in front of an open window, but when she brings the issue up at a meeting of the Association's executive board, the other members are disturbed by her bigoted remarks about African Americans and decide not to take any action.

After learning that Malik and Imani are holding a housewarming party for their friends, Karen convinces Imani that she wants to make amends and receives an invitation. At the party, she quickly offends everyone present by trying to argue that black Americans are being too "angry" and saying that if they dislike America, then they should just "go back", which infuriates Malik as he makes her leave. The next day, Karen comes across three young black men, and demands that they present her with identification. They refuse, and she calls her brother, lying that they are threatening her physically. Mike arrests them, but the men are quickly released after video footage surfaces of Karen's phone call. The Association then fires her as president after the father of one of the young men sues them.

Karen gets Mike to pull Malik over while driving home from work by revealing his history of marijuana use. Mike finds no marijuana in his car, so he plants a bag of weed in the trunk, resulting in Malik spending the night in jail. Karen then visits Imani the next morning, telling her that she and her husband should leave the neighborhood if they do not want any more trouble. Imani defiantly responds that she and Malik will not be leaving anytime soon. That night, Mike arrives with a search warrant and arrests Malik again, while Karen cuts the power to their house and breaks in with a gun. The siblings threaten Imani at gunpoint before Karen seemingly shoots her dead. Mike's partner rushes in, and a standoff ensues until Mike and his partner shoot each other; Mike is killed while his partner is only slightly wounded. Karen prepares to finish him off, but a still-alive Imani grabs Mike's gun and kills her in self-defense.

Malik is released, and he and Imani receive a full apology and compensation from the city of Atlanta for what they went through.

• Taryn Manning as Karen Drexler[6]
• Cory Hardrict as Malik[7]
• Jasmine Burke as Imani[8]
• Roger Dorman as Officer Mike Wind
• Brandon Sklenar as Officer Hill
• Gregory Alan Williams as Charles Wright
• Veronika Bozeman as Fatima
• Dawn Halfkenny as Chanel McFadden

Principal photography began in Georgia in December 2020.[9][10] Filming wrapped in February 2021.[11]

In August 2021, it was announced that Quiver Distribution acquired North American distribution rights to the film, which was released theatrically and on demand on September 3, 2021.[12]

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 17% of 23 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 2.9/10.[13] Writing for RogerEbert.com, Nick Allen wrote that "[E]ven with the most basic forms of gratuitous schlock, Karen does not try".[14]

• Karen at IMDb