Your Monster

A screening of Your Monster was the most fun I had at Sundance this year so I was really excited to see it again with my nephew at the Broadway last night.  I was afraid that I might have hyped it up too much (like I did for My Old Ass) but he told me that it was awesome as we walked out!  Aspiring actress Laura Franco (Melissa Barrera) moves back into her childhood home after her boyfriend Jacob Sullivan (Edmund Donovan) breaks up with her during her cancer treatment.  She wallows in self-pity until the monster (Tommy Dewey) she banished to her closet as a young girl suddenly reappears.  She tries to repress her anger and jealousy when Jacob gives the part he wrote for her in his new Broadway musical to another actress and then pursues an affair with her but the monster helps Laura to find her voice (and revenge) again.  This is a hilarious mash-up of a romantic comedy and a horror movie (with a little bit of musical theatre thrown in) and there were multiple times when I laughed out loud (the ending is absolutely bonkers in the best possible way).  I also really enjoyed the theme of female empowerment and the use of an actual monster to represent the inner rage that Laura feels is a clever twist.  Barrera is incredibly charming with great comedic timing as well as tremendous chemistry with Dewey and it was nice to see her show off her musical theatre background again with her lively performance of the songs and choreography.  The prosthetics for the monster are fantastic and I loved Laura's theatre kid aesthetic!  This is really delightful and I recommend seeing it for Halloween!

Note:  It would be a great double feature with Lisa Frankenstein.