Directed By Kyle Hausmann-Stokes

Starring – Sonequa Martin-Green, Natalie Morales, Ed Harris

The Plot – Follows the journey of Merit (Martin-Green), a U.S. Army Afghanistan veteran who is at odds with her family thanks to the presence of Zoe (Morales), her dead best friend from the Army. Despite the persistence of her VA group counselor (Morgan Freeman), the tough love of her mother (Gloria Reuben) and the levity of an unexpected love interest, Merit’s cozy-dysfunctional friendship with Zoe keeps the duo insulated from the world. That is until Merit’s estranged grandfather (Harris), holed up at the family’s ancestral lake house, begins to lose his way and needs the help that he refuses to receive.

Rated R for adult language

MY DEAD FRIEND ZOE Official Trailer (2025)

POSITIVES

It comes as no surprise that Kyle Hausmann-Stokes is a United States Army veteran because there’s an honesty and intimacy to his feature length directorial debut that very few films pertaining to veteran trauma can capably and comfortably unearth, all with a quite remarkable level of filmmaking that goes a long way towards pitting us in the shoes of what so many heroes unfortunately face every day. Instead of being one of the many war films that value riveting and unforgiving action towards articulating such an unpredictable environment, the script instead unstitches the deep-seeded scars of those left broken by the perils of war, and the result serves as a film that is more about self-awareness for the lack of care and concern that these veterans get, rather than an anti-war film about preachy peace and propaganda. This is explored through the bond of one inseparable friendship between two squad outcasts, with Merit plotting for a future outside of the Army, and Zoe essentially being a lifer with nobody or nothing to go home to. In dissecting grief through these dual protagonists, we learn a lot about each of them in pocketed impulses of their actions that not only gives the characters a fuller fleshed-out reality to their designs, but also dual tiers of storytelling between their time in the Army together, and Merit’s time alone while being constantly haunted by the memory of her friend. A dual narrative usually takes a lot of experience to deviate between smoothly and seamlessly, but Hausmann-Stokes clearly shows knowledge and even artistic flare that far succeeds his limitations in the industry, and as a result we’re treated to a bit of a mystery that we already know the final outcome, but not how we got there in the first place, with the big third act reveal during the film’s final ten minutes being something that managed to shock me, despite the title and the opening minute of the film conveying that Zoe has no chance of making it out alive. It’s greatest strength is in its depiction of the spontaneity and vulnerability with such confining trauma, with these intensely vivid sequences of rapid fire lighting and tightly constructed framing to give the audience a deeper sense of isolation to Merit’s internal conflict, which seems to grow more frequent and out of control the longer that she refuses to come to terms with Zoe’s secret. As we would expect from cinema, that epiphany does come, but with the responsible take in resolution that doesn’t appraise grief as something that can simply be handled by love or finding God, instead pointing towards an optimistically long road to recovery that might work for Merit, but post-movie screen text commutes didn’t work for the nearly 200,000 soldiers that have taken their lives since 9/11. Kyle also opts out of using their character flaws as means for emotional manipulation with the audience, primarily in a much welcome and appreciated light-hearted atmosphere that isn’t afraid to reach for comedy in the depths of character vulnerability, with the current day dynamic between Merit and her grandfather enacting some clever insights towards the uphill mental challenges that each of them now face. The humor is far from anything exceptionally effective or dominating to the tone or atmosphere within the movie, but it’s palpable enough to prove that the director was hands-on about utilizing personalities within these characters to grant accessibility to the struggle of millions, and while observations can certainly be found during some of the most sad and crippling moments for characters, there’s a real upfront honesty and vulnerability in their attempting to keep the pieces together that I simply couldn’t get enough of, especially with performances from such a decorated ensemble that brought so much life and even psychological torment to these characters. Sonequa Martin-Green continues to amaze since her brief but valuable time on “The Walking Dead”, with Merit being her single biggest step forward as a dramatic powerhouse actress who knows how to capture and maintain your attention. There’s a real dazed and almost shell-shocked demeanor to her recollection of past events that feel like they could unravel and cripple her at any given moment, but also an abundance of radiant charisma that continuously pulls her back, and with a real lived-in sense of believability in the friendship between her and Natalie Morales, it’s easy to see why their characters bond so inseparably, especially with Morales’ own work exuding the unapologetic impacts of so many of her character’s off-beat observations. In a far heavier dramatic movie, Zoe would be preserved as a saint with very few flaws, but there’s a full-fledged humanity to Morales’ portrayal during haunting scenes that doesn’t always articulate her in the most endearing light, with her coldly condemning demeanor towards Merit meant to signify her inability to forgive herself for whatever role she played in her friend’s death, often with Morales providing the comedic underlining that effortlessly conveys how much of a wild card Zoe truly was. Ed Harris also hands in reputable work, with the same kind of stern sensibilities that we’ve come to expect from the grizzled film veteran, but with an interaction to Alzheimer’s that feels every bit heartbreaking as it does respectful for the nuance he gives to such a fragile depiction.

NEGATIVES

There’s very little that takes away any integrity from “My Dead Friend Zoe”, but what there is does start to show some of the wires of inexperience within Kyle’s lack of experience as a screenwriter, particularly in the aforementioned dual timelines of the script outline that seemingly get lost somewhere around the film’s midway point. As to where I never found trouble discerning the respective arcs in transition, the wartime one receives less and less time the longer the film persists, where it takes a backseat to unnecessary denominations in the 95-minute run time within the current day arc, like a sparkless romance subplot between Sonequa Martin-Green and Utkarsh Ambudkar. The two of them not only lack the kind of synergy and chemistry as romantic interests that make them such a compelling force steering Merit’s road to well-being, but also feels so unnecessary in the grand scheme of seeing the film’s bigger picture, and it makes me wish we spent more time during war alongside Merit and Zoe, or even fleshed out more significance and influence to Morgan Freeman’s role in the film, who sadly goes tragically wasted despite Freeman still bringing the same kind of class and charm that he has to a lifetime of iconic roles. In addition to inconsistencies between the dual arcs, there was beginning to be some levels of annoyance for me to Zoe’s usage during the current day arc, where her abruptly rude insights would start to compromise the integrity of vital sequences between Merit and her uncle requiring more tender care to enact their sensibilities. It’s not to say that these scenes don’t still attain some semblance of dramatic heft to their rendering, it just makes me wish that Zoe took a more sporadic and sedated approach to therapeutic revelations between these characters, even at the cost of undercutting some of Morales’ meaningful work. The gimmick itself of a dead person following Merit is also utilized a bit strangely and illogical, in that it does the same cliche that other films with a similar gimmick does, where the figment of the protagonist’s imagination somehow knows things that said protagonist couldn’t possibly know in the first place. Being that Zoe isn’t technically a ghost, but rather the manifestation of suppressed grief in Merit’s mind, her ability to see things that Merit herself can’t see is a bit convenient and distracting to the rules of the construct, and though I try not to preach logic in a movie with supernatural things taking shape, I do expect consistency in its execution, essentially where Merit and Zoe are the same person in this timeline, so they should have the same knowledge about everything they’re seeing and interacting with.

OVERALL
“My Dead Friend Zoe” is a tenderly touching and urgently important film about suppressed veteran trauma, specifically as a call to arms about the actions needed to be taken in order to make life easier for our bravest heroes. With a breezy execution for such a dark and difficult conflict to millions, Kyle Hausmann-Stokes takes an approach of fleshing out the personalities of his characters, before unceremoniously breaking the hearts of the audience, and with a trio of foundation building performances from Sonequa Martin-Green, Natalie Morales, and Ed Harris leading the charge, enacts an emotional payoff worthy of overlooking some of the gimmick’s more unflattering aspects.

My Grade: 8.0 or B+