Georgina Preston is the head of Assuru Global who hides her elitism and ambition behind her public face as a charming businesswoman. Using her influence over the Thinning, Georgina has been secretly enslaving everyone who fails the Thinning and forcing tens of thousands of teenagers and children to work in sweatshops. In these sweatshops, anyone who doesn't work is lobotomized and the slaves are allowed to brutalize each other in fighting rings. Georgina is also the campaign manager for Texas Governor Dean Redding's bid for President, hoping to use him to expand her influence. When Laina Michaels tries to expose her crimes, Georgina murders a reporter who was helping her, and threatens a man's children to force him to kill Laina's allies and capture her siblings. When Dean is elected President, Georgina immediately enacts mass arrests of anyone who opposes the Thinning, declaring that "now, we are the law."
Mason King is the brutish head of the Department of Population Control in Texas who oversees the Thinning. Under his watch, King's men are allowed to brutalize any student who breaks the rule, with King personally beating a teacher for helping a student escape the Thinning. King also helps Governor Dean Redding manipulate the system so the children of influential people pass, while the disadvantaged fail, regardless of their scores. King is later put in charge of Assuru Global's sweatshop where anyone who failed the Thinning is enslaved, a fate King knowingly sent thousands to. In this position, King oversees the brutal system where suicide attempts are common, disobedient slaves are lobotomized, and the slaves run a fighting ring. When Blake Redding tries to escape, King sadistically breaks his leg and later tries to kill him when he tries to escape again.
Harsher in Hindsight: The ending of the film, in light of lead actor Logan Paul's controversies getting him suspended from YouTube Red and the sequel temporarily canceled, such that Quinton Reviews even described it as a case of life imitating art. With the rigged test results changed back, Blake must face the consequences of his attempted Suicide by Test, with his father, who had protected him before, now forced to have him executed in order to save face and not make it look like he was willing to abide by a nepotisticDouble Standard. In real life, many people noted that, in suspending their collaboration with Paul after the controversy surrounding his Aokigahara video, YouTube's hand seemed like it had been forced by public outrage, with their non-action initially (including allowing that video to rise into the trending section) seen as a double standard to protect one of the site's biggest stars compared to the swift action they took when PewDiePie got embroiled in a similar controversy over objectionable content.
Somewhat propagated by Pyrocynical, it's common to jokingly call the title as "the Hair Line Thinning'' instead.
Also naturally because of the main male lead being Logan Paul, it's uncommon to make passing jokes and references to the things the man has done.
Overshadowed by Controversy: The male lead is played by Logan Paul, one of the most controversial and infamous celebrities of the decade. Naturally, the fact that he's in this film at all pretty much overshadowed everything else about it. It only got worse when a sequel ended up getting greenlit and released, as unlike the first film, it came after the events that made him so hated in the first place.
as a case of life imitating art. With the rigged test results changed back, Blake must face the consequences of his attempted Suicide by Test, with his father, who had protected him before, now forced to have him executed in order to save face and not make it look like he was willing to abide by a nepotistic Double Standard. In real life, many people noted that, in suspending their collaboration with Paul after the controversy surrounding his Aokigahara video, YouTube's hand seemed like it had been forced by public outrage, with their non-action initially (including allowing that video to rise into the trending section) seen as a double standard to protect one of the site's biggest stars compared to the swift action they took when PewDiePie got embroiled in a similar controversy over objectionable content.