Your Monster, 2024.
Written and Directed by Caroline Lindy.
Starring Melissa Barrera, Tommy Dewey, Edmund Donovan, Kayla Foster, Kasey Bella Suarez, Taylor Trensch, Brandon Victor Dixon, and Meghann Fahy.
SYNOPSIS:
After her life falls apart, soft-spoken actress Laura Franco finds her voice again when she meets a terrifying, yet weirdly charming Monster living in her closet. A romantic-comedy-horror film about falling in love with your inner rage.
The monster living under Laura Franco’s (Melissa Barrera) bed and inside her closet is real. Unnamed, Monster (Tommy Dewey) appears after Laura returns to her mom’s temporarily unoccupied home to process and get over a breakup with her theatre director boyfriend Jacob (Edmund Donovan), a cruel man who reassessed the relationship following her cancer diagnosis. The first of an overwhelming amount of baffling elements in writer/director Caroline Lindy’s Your Monster is that the cancer is merely a plot point, as Laura has recovered after the opening montage with such an illness barely mentioned again.
Equally and immediately offputting is the relentless overacting, with Laura endlessly crying daily, ordering box after box of tissues from Amazon. Given that the film sees some of these characters on stage, sometimes singing and dancing, there is an understandable rationale behind pushing for such theatrical performances, but this ensemble goes overboard and actively elicits unintentional laughter. Perhaps such over-exaggeration is intended to make it easier to buy into the idea of a traditional hairy monster (think the standard interpretation of Beast) being real. Whatever the case may be, Your Monster announces itself as a tonal disaster upfront, eventually piecing together elements of comedy, romance, drama, and horror for a satisfying climax. By that point, it’s obviously too late.
From the moment Monster appears, depicted in an unexpected, overly comedic motormouth, the experience is already deflated and begs the question of what Caroline Lindy is trying to accomplish here. Monster notes that he wants to live alone and is a vicious beast who once protected her from the shadows since childhood. He is also a softie who quickly gets hooked on watching classic romance movies with Laura, scarfing down noodles, and cracking jokes with the energy and hyperactivity of Will Ferrell.
Naturally, this doesn’t make Laura or the viewer fear Monster in this romantic comedy that, theoretically, should have a hint of danger and darkness to it. It is as if Caroline Lindy decided that despite the many unconventional aspects at play here, this will remain a conventional romantic comedy that refuses to play into any of its inherent dark humor. Even the romance feels like it’s holding something back, afraid to do anything radical or steamy with the concept of Beauty having sex with the Beast. And when it is time for the film to do something scary, it plainly doesn’t work since everything else has prioritized comedy.
When Laura is not interacting with Monster, she is assisting Jackie Dennon (Meghann Fahy), her replacement for the leading role in Jacob’s upcoming play, which is supposedly an ode to the hardships of women despite him being a chauvinistic pig. Unaware that Laura and Jacob were once together, there is evidence that Jackie and he might be hooking up, also with the possibility that she might be afraid to say no to this creep due to his position of power as boss. Then there is the fact that Laura still feels for this jerk even though the less conventionally attractive Monster has been a surprising standup lover. Your assumption would be correct if this doesn’t sound effective as a love triangle.
Going back to the ending, which weaves together catchy singing from Melissa Barrera, some violent comeuppance, and a shift into twisted territory that drops the annoying cutesy act, there is potential in this premise. The message Caroline Lindy is going for with Your Monster, which comes down to encouraging women to stop being doormats for the worst guys and to stand up for themselves, even if it means expressing anger, is admirable. Unfortunately, blending these numerous tones and genre elements properly takes an obnoxious 90 minutes or so. Melissa Barrera and Tommy Dewey deserve credit for trying to sell it, but this was doomed based on the script and approach to the story alone.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★
Robert Kojder is a member of the Chicago Film Critics Association and the Critics Choice Association. He is also the Flickering Myth Reviews Editor. Check here for new reviews, follow my Twitter or Letterboxd, or email me at MetalGearSolid719@gmail.com
