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Get the Girl (2017) movie poster

Characters & Themes

Get the Girl (2017) Characters, Setting & Themes Explained

Release, runtime and language
2017 · 87 min · English
JustWatch #4,862 33
Directed by
Eric England

A wealthy and charming man stages a fake kidnapping in an elaborate attempt to win the affections of the woman he desires. However, the situation spirals out of control when an accidental death occurs, plunging him into a dangerous game of deception and intrigue. Now, he must protect the woman he initially targeted while concealing his true intentions and evading those who suspect his involvement in the escalating crisis.

On this page (8)
  1. 1 Where to watch
  2. 2 Characters explained (6)
  3. 3 Where & when it takes place
  4. 4 Themes & meaning (3)
  5. 5 Character & meaning questions
  6. 6 Movie threads
  7. 7 Movies like Get the Girl
  8. 8 Every angle

Where to watch

Where to Watch Get the Girl (2017)

Where can you watch Get the Girl? Stream, rent or buy it in the US, including on Amazon Prime Video, Hoopla and Amazon MX Player: current JustWatch availability with up-to-date prices.

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6 main characters · contains spoilers

Get the Girl Characters Explained: Who Is Who

The main characters of Get the Girl (2017), heroes and villains: what drives them, how they change over the course of the story and what each of them reveals about the film's bigger ideas.

  • Clarence Duffield

    A wealthy, calculating man who orchestrates a staged kidnapping to win Alex, revealing a dark pragmatism beneath his confident façade. He manipulates others, risks lives, and uses charm to mask dangerous intentions.

    • 🎭 Manipulative
    • 🧠 Strategic
    • 💼 Wealthy
  • Alex

    A bartender and divorcee who becomes the target of the scheme yet exhibits resilience and resourcefulness. She fights to escape, questions Clarence’s motives, and ultimately dictates the terms of the confrontation.

    • 💪 Resilient
    • 🧭 Suspicious
    • 🍸 Bartender
  • Patrick

    A charming, opportunistic mastermind who escalates the plan for profit and proves willing to kill to protect his interests. His vanity and ruthlessness drive much of the violence and tension in the story.

    • 🧠 Cunning
    • 💰 Money-driven
    • 🗡️ Violent
  • Jade

    Patrick’s girlfriend who participates in the operation but is emotionally unsettled by the violence. Her arc reveals fear, loyalty, and eventual moral conflict within the chaos.

    • 💎 Engaged
    • 💔 Conflicted
    • 🎀 Loyal
  • KJ

    A steady, aggressive kidnapper who handles the physical execution of the plan and the cleanup. His presence heightens danger and demonstrates the brutality of the operation.

    • 🧰 Resourceful
    • 🔫 Armed
    • 🕶️ Stealthy
  • Carl

    One of the masked abductors whose real identity destabilizes the operation. He is confronted by Clarence and is ultimately killed, underscoring the film’s lethal stakes.

    • 🎭 Masked
    • 🧠 Calculated
    • 💥 Violent

Last updated: October 03, 2025 at 19:57

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Setting

Where and When Does Get the Girl Take Place?

The setting of Get the Girl (2017): the year and time period, the places and locations, and how they shape the characters, the mood and the tension of the story.

Time period

Modern day

The events unfold in contemporary times with present-day technology, private security, and typical legal processes like divorce filings. Nightlife, wealth, and urban settings drive the thriller atmosphere. The pacing and stakes align with a current-day, high-tension crime drama.

Location

Bar, Parking garage, Clarence's mansion

The story moves from a busy city bar to a dimly lit parking garage and finally to a luxurious mansion. The bar scene establishes a social space where emotions misfire and plans take shape. The mansion provides a high-stakes backdrop for the kidnapping, confrontations, and violent turn of events.

  • 🌆 Urban setting
  • 🏰 Affluent locations
  • 🚗 Parking garage

Last updated: October 03, 2025 at 19:57

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3 major themes

Get the Girl Meaning: Themes & Message Explained

What is Get the Girl (2017) really about? The emotional, social and philosophical themes the film keeps returning to, its symbolism and the message beneath the surface.

  • Deception

    Deception threads through the plot as key actions hinge on lies and hidden identities. Clarence’s staged kidnapping, Patrick’s manipulations, and the false sense of safety all rely on misdirection. The truth surfaces slowly, driving the characters toward dramatic confrontations and twists.

  • Love & Money

    Romantic desire collides with financial motive. Characters exploit affection to gain power, inheritance, or escape from past hurts. The romance becomes a battleground where affection is weaponized and moral lines blur.

  • Violence

    Violence escalates from coercion to lethal force, shaping the moral landscape of the story. The kidnapping, murders, and shootouts test loyalty and survival. The final standoff exposes the fragility of control and the consequences of greed.

Last updated: October 03, 2025 at 19:57

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Character & theme questions

Get the Girl Characters & Meaning: Your Questions Answered

The questions people ask about Get the Girl (2017): who the characters really are, their relationships, what the symbols mean, where it takes place and what the movie is really about. Each answer contains spoilers.

Q1

Where does the movie take place?

The story unfolds across three primary locations: a bustling urban bar where initial interactions occur, a dimly lit parking garage that serves as the kidnapping site, and an opulent mansion where the high-stakes confrontation unfolds. These settings shift from public social spaces to private, enclosed environments, reflecting the story's transition from manipulation to dangerous confrontation.

  • setting
  • locations
  • mansion
  • bar
  • parking garage
  • urban
Q2

What time period is the film set in?

The film takes place in contemporary modern times, featuring present-day technology, private security systems, and current legal processes like divorce filings. The nightlife culture, wealth display, and urban setting create a present-day crime drama atmosphere.

  • time period
  • modern day
  • contemporary
  • era
Q3

What role does deception play in the story?

Deception serves as the central engine driving the plot forward. Clarence orchestrates a fake kidnapping to win Alex's affection, while Patrick manipulates the situation for personal profit. Characters hide their true identities and motivations, creating a web of lies that eventually collapses into violent confrontation.

  • deception
  • lies
  • manipulation
  • plot twist
  • orchestrated kidnapping
Q4

How does the film explore the connection between love and money?

The movie examines how romantic desire becomes intertwined with financial motives. Characters exploit affection as a tool for power, inheritance, or escape from past hurts. The relationship between the characters turns affection into a weapon, blurring moral boundaries between genuine emotion and transactional interaction.

  • love
  • money
  • romance
  • financial motive
  • power
  • inheritance
Q5

What does the film say about violence?

Violence in the film escalates from initial coercion to lethal force, testing character loyalty and survival instincts. The kidnapping, murders, and shootouts expose how quickly control can slip away. The narrative uses violence to underscore the consequences of greed and the fragility of seemingly orchestrated plans.

  • violence
  • escalation
  • murder
  • consequences
  • crime
Q6

Who is Clarence Duffield and what does he want?

Clarence Duffield is a wealthy, calculating man who orchestrates an elaborate staged kidnapping as a scheme to win Alex's affection. Beneath his charming exterior lies a dangerous pragmatism, he manipulates others and risks lives to achieve his romantic goals, revealing an obsessive and dark side.

  • Clarence Duffield
  • character
  • wealthy man
  • orchestrator
  • kidnapping plot
Q7

Who is Alex and what is her situation?

Alex is a bartender and divorcee who becomes the target of Clarence's manipulative scheme. Despite being thrust into a dangerous situation, she demonstrates resilience and resourcefulness, eventually fighting to escape and ultimately taking an active role in dictating the terms of the final confrontation.

  • Alex
  • bartender
  • divorcee
  • protagonist
  • resilience
Q8

Who is Patrick and why is he dangerous?

Patrick is a charming but opportunistic mastermind who escalates the original kidnapping plan for personal profit. His vanity and ruthlessness drive much of the film's violence and tension. He proves willing to kill to protect his interests, making him one of the most volatile characters in the story.

  • Patrick
  • mastermind
  • opportunist
  • dangerous
  • violence
Q9

What genres does the movie combine?

The film blends multiple genres including action, thriller, comedy, and crime. It balances dark, high-stakes crime elements with comedic moments, creating a tone that ranges from tense thriller to darkly humorous. This genre mixture serves the story's twisted romantic motive while maintaining suspense.

  • genre
  • thriller
  • comedy
  • action
  • crime
  • blend
Q10

What is the overall tone and mood of the film?

The movie maintains a predominantly tense atmosphere with high intensity and fast pacing. An elaborate ruse quickly collapses into a real and violent crisis, sustaining suspense throughout. While it focuses on thriller elements rather than deep emotional exploration, themes of obsession and betrayal add seriousness to the darkly comedic tone.

  • tone
  • mood
  • atmosphere
  • tense
  • intense
  • fast paced
Q11

What is the central conflict in the story?

The central conflict stems from a manipulative romantic gesture that spirals violently out of control. What begins as a calculated scheme to win affection becomes a dangerous game of deception where multiple parties pursue conflicting goals, Clarence's obsession, Patrick's greed, and Alex's survival, colliding in a life-or-death standoff.

  • conflict
  • central conflict
  • scheme
  • confrontation
  • survival
Q12

What is the film ultimately about?

The film explores the dark intersection of obsession, manipulation, and romantic desire. It examines how obsession can masquerade as love, how deception eventually destroys those who employ it, and how toxic combinations of wealth, desire, and violence lead to tragic consequences. The bittersweet ending leaves the main relationship on an unsettling, ambiguous note.

  • meaning
  • message
  • theme
  • obsession
  • ending
  • bittersweet

Movie threads

More Movies Like Get the Girl, by Mood & Story

Curated lists built around what makes Get the Girl tick: the same mood, the same kind of story or the same emotional payoff. Each list explains why these movies belong together.

Movies with elaborate schemes that spiral out of control like Get the Girl

Stories where a clever deception escalates into life-or-death chaos. If you liked the high-tension chaos of Get the Girl, you'll enjoy these movies where a clever plan goes terribly wrong. Discover similar thrillers and crime stories featuring deceptions that escalate beyond control, leading to dangerous situations and frantic attempts to survive the fallout.

  • anxious
  • chaotic
  • desperate
  • cunning
  • unraveling
  • high-stakes
  • Tone: tense, anxious, chaotic
  • Pacing: fast, relentless
Why these movies?

The story pattern: The narrative pattern begins with a protagonist confident in their clever, often morally ambiguous, scheme. A single unforeseen event—an accident, a witness, or a rival—shatters the illusion of control, forcing the protagonist to improvise desperately as the situation morphs from a controlled con into a violent and unpredictable survival thriller.

Why they belong together: These movies are grouped by their shared core premise: the catastrophic failure of an elaborate plan. They create a consistent vibe of escalating tension and anxiety, moving from cerebral deception to intense physical danger, and often explore themes of hubris, desperation, and the loss of control.

Movies about obsessive love and twisted rescues like Get the Girl

Protection born from dangerous deception and unhealthy fixation. Fans of Get the Girl will appreciate these films that explore the dark side of romance, where affection turns into manipulation. Find similar movies about characters who stage dangerous situations to win someone's love, resulting in thrillers with ambiguous morals and a bittersweet, unsettling tone.

  • obsessive
  • unsettling
  • manipulative
  • deceptive
  • claustrophobic
  • ambiguous romance
  • Tone: unsettling, tense, ambiguous
  • Pacing: fast, suspenseful
Why these movies?

The story pattern: The emotional journey centers on a protagonist who orchestrates a perilous situation for the object of their desire, intending to 'save' them and earn their affection. The narrative forces a confrontation between the fabricated heroism and the disturbing reality of the obsession, leading to an ending where the 'rescue' feels tainted and the relationship's future is deeply uncertain.

Why they belong together: These films are connected by their exploration of a specific, dark romantic trope: the hero-villain. They share a mood of psychological unease and moral ambiguity, driven by characters whose love is possessive and manipulative, resulting in a tense, claustrophobic atmosphere and often a bittersweet conclusion.

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Movies Like Get the Girl

Similar movies to Get the Girl: the same genre, themes or kind of story. Each one comes with its own plot summary, timeline and ending explained.

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Every angle

Get the Girl (2017) Explained: Plot, Timeline & Characters

Everything about Get the Girl in one place: what happens in the plot summary, the timeline in chronological order, the characters and meaning and a spoiler-free summary. What's After the Movie adds the cast, box office and post-credit scenes.

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