Directed By Caroline Lindy

Starring – Melissa Barrera, Tommy Dewey, Meghann Fahy

The Plot – After her life falls apart, soft-spoken actress Laura Franco (Barrera) finds her voice again when she meets a terrifying, yet weirdly charming Monster (Dewey) living in her closet. A romantic-comedy-horror film about falling in love with your inner rage.

Rated R for adult language, some sexual content and brief bloody violence.

Your Monster – Official Trailer (2024) Melissa Barrera, Tommy Dewey, Edmund Donovan (youtube.com)

POSITIVES

As of late, romantic comedies have deviated from the conventional formula in ways that not only cater to a whole new representation of love at the forefront of the narrative, but also afforded them some rich creativity to their respective screenplays in ways that elevate personality to their capture. The same can easily be said for ‘Your Monster’, which as the single most ambitious project for Lindy, taps into a lore and legend from our childhoods that surprisingly captivates an intriguing love story between girl and the monster under her bed or in her closet, that knows her in ways nobody ever truly could. When the film focuses on this tender dynamic between them, it reaches its highest potential, with a fearless ferocity in risk-taking and banter-turned-bond that not only summons an abundance of twisted humor to their daily interactions, but also garners a lived-in brand of friendship that materializes long before the feelings between them do, which only further solidifies the off-the-charts chemistry between Barrera and Dewey that synthetically stole my heart. Lindy also affectionately radiates personality in both the evolving framing and imagery of her presentation, which continuously caters to the air of its dominant genre at any particular moment, as well as her dependency on 50’s and 60’s love songs to the soundtrack, which effortlessly caters to the atmosphere of a charming and blossoming romance. The songs infectiously keep the tempo airy and enriching, but it’s really the cinematography from Will Stone that emits a proverbial spark between our two love leads, with immaculate lighting and subtle framing that sneaks up on the audience, regardless if they expect these two to fall in love or not. In the beginning of the film, there’s a lot of singular framing meant to convey Laura’s loneliness, but as the film and the feelings between her and the monster permeate, they share a lot of frames together, enriching a love that we feel all the more coherently when we’re subtly incorporating it into the consistency of the imagery. The film is also aided tremendously by such glowing performances from Barrera and Dewey, who make the most of their respective opportunities by supplanting depth to the integrity of their portrayals, giving us a far deeper emotional dexterity than we might expect from characters involved in a romantic comedy. Barrera’s already proven resiliency in stoicism with films like ‘Scream’ and ‘Abigail’, but as Laura she rides the bends of love’s long and unforgiving road, attaining solid comedic muscle in humility, but especially heart in vulnerability, that make her such an empathetic lead that we can capably invest in, despite periodically selfish actions that threaten to compromise her grounded likeability. But as good as Barrera is, Dewey gives a breakthrough triumph that is easily one of my favorite comedic turns of 2024, with sharp timing in delivery that elevated such predictable lines of dialogue towards feeling emphatically effective. Aside from the aforementioned chemistry of these two practically leaping off of the film’s footage, as a result of them feeling like a perfect fit psychologically, it’s an underlining dark side between them that ultimately bonds their single greatest link, and though I had issues with the film’s inconsistent tonal shifts that I will divulge in a little bit, it proves to be the greatest strength to their relationship when they’ve seen the worst in the other person, but still aren’t going anywhere as a result of the way they healthily fill a void within each other. Lastly, while I could’ve used a little more run time to flesh out certain arcs, I found the pacing pleasant in its continued efforts to keep the storytelling from ever stalling, especially as it takes on heftier circumstances during the second half, as mentioned, which could easily halt the movie’s momentum. Instead, there’s a palpable urgency that persists to Lindy’s storytelling, despite this story essentially taking place over a few weeks, especially between Laura and her monster, where the minutes effortlessly fall as a result of the magnetism between them that I truly wish wiped out the need for anyone or anything else to intrude upon their peacefully isolated existence.

NEGATIVES

Tonally, this film is all over the place, often reaching for far too many shifts in the frenetic atmosphere that doesn’t always evolve naturally in the depths of the storytelling. This is particularly the case with the film’s desire to get overly dark and dramatic during the inferior second half, which not only feels like an entirely different film from the zany quick-witted humor of the first half, but also robs it of the overhanging fun factor that drives much of the aforementioned personality of Lindy’s direction, leading to a divisive ending that poetically felt beautiful for the bond of the characters, but isn’t the most satisfying resolution in terms of thematic finality that feels rewarding to the audience for the long distance journey. For my money, the film’s time was best spent as a romantic comedy, without the need to delve too deep in the dark or morbid material of the script that is clearly looking for shock value over sentimentality. In addition to these abrupt pocketed tonal shifts, the tempo of the storytelling unfortunately feels a bit rushed, in turn undercutting many of the constructed arcs towards attaining the kind of necessary relevance to even include them to the script’s creativity. There are many examples that involve spoilers, particularly during the opening act, so instead I will focus on the lore and world-building of the monster’s underworld, which feels grazed topically at best. Considering there are some fascinating ingredients that seemingly feel tied to childlike imagination, I wish the script delved deeper to flesh those elements out to the history of the two characters, primarily during a predictable third act distancing that physically takes the film to places that it previously didn’t travel to, in turn leaving me yearning for more of a creative expansion that couldn’t even touch the surface of this film’s tremendous potential. Another similar example to this overriding ideal of storytelling pertains to a third act twist that might feel obvious after a previous scene telegraphed it, but still deserved the emphasis of a big reveal in the context of Laura uncovering it, but instead it just feels like such an afterthought in the way it’s constructed to the third act setup, resulting in an earth-shattering discovery with the kind of impacting relevance of a clawless kitten to a scratch post. Finally, while the film’s unorthodox love story does attain notoriety in the bizarreness of its gimmick, the execution of its exploration, at least structurally made it feel like a hybrid of ‘Drop Dead Fred’ and ‘Warm Bodies’, which it rarely ever deviated away from. Especially in the case of the former, the film is about a lovesick mentally frazzled girl surrounded by a variety of detestably toxic people in her life, only to find comfort in someone tied to her childhood. Sound familiar? I’m not necessarily blaming Lindy for lifting creativity from other properties, I just wish she did a better job of deviating away from such an idea that feels interchangeable with those properties, as my interpretation felt that relevance quite early in the engagement, and as a result I was never able to give it credit for the chances it bravely took, nor shake the notion that I’ve seen this play out before.

OVERALL
‘Your Monster’ might lack the kind of bite necessary to being a ferociously snarling and unconventional beast, but its heart is always in the right place, particularly in the delightful love story between Melissa Barrera and Tommy Dewey, who charm their way with earnestly sincere performances that effortlessly marry heart and humor. While the film becomes overwhelmed with unfulfilling tonal shifts and undercut arcs, the magnetism of Lindy’s feverishly flamboyant personality ultimately wins out, gifting a perfect date night for couples with a monstrous desire for bizarreness

My Grade: 6/10 or C