Movie Review: Your Monster

 

Michael's Movie Grade: B

A delightfully dark and offbeat romantic comedy. 

A romantic comedy where a young woman falls in love with the monster in her closet is already a delightfully offbeat premise for a film. However, what makes this movie work so well is that it doesn't play everything for laughs. Even in its darkest moments (and this film definitely gets pretty dark), it has a really big heart. The relationship between the young woman and the monster is surprisingly sweet and it provides the film with some very heartwarming moments. I love how these two outsiders are able to see each other for who they really are, something no one else can do. Our young heroine finds everyone who supposedly cares about her is only looking out for themselves. Only the character who is outwardly a monster, actually cares what happens to her. Though she is at first terrified of him, having someone who truly cares about her makes her see that this monster is just a lonely guy who may need a friend, despite his outward appearance and his tough talk. Both characters themselves are very likable and easy to care about. We can all relate to our heroine's ambition and her desire to simply get what she was promised. We feel very much for her and want to see her have success in a world that seems to be against her. This all leads to an incredibly dark but satisfying ending that I won't dare give away here. Maybe some people will think that this ending goes too far or ends too abruptly, but I think it is perfect and well earned. This movie also benefits from a fantastic cast (lead by great performances from Melissa Barrera and Tommy Dewey), a great design for the monster, very atmospheric uses of lighting and a very catchy and clever original song. 

For such an offbeat movie, I do feel the humor should have been funnier. The humor is fine here and there are many times when it made me chuckle or smile. However, it did not make me laugh out loud as often as I felt it should. There were a few laugh out loud moments her but not as many as there should be in a film like this. 

I also felt that the supporting characters are kinda bland here and none of them feel as real as our two leads do. There was an attempt to flesh out one of these supporting characters. While it kind of worked, I do feel it comes a bit too late. 

This movie marks the first feature film directed by Caroline Lindy. It is actually based off of her 2020 short film of the same name. 

While this is not for everyone and the humor could have been stronger, this is a pure offbeat and dark delight.