Your Monster
I can only speak for myself, but I think that the world really needed a film made for the little girls of the 1990s who were furious when the Beast turned back into a handsome prince at the end of Beauty and the Beast, or that Fred and Lizzie didn’t wind up together in Drop Dead Fred. That’s essentially what Your Monster is: a musical horror rom-com mashup with eccentricities to spare. Bolstered by off-the-charts chemistry between Melissa Barrera and Tommy Dewey, Your Monster wears its heart on its quirky little sleeve. It may not be for everyone, but there’s a dedicated fanbase out there just waiting to fall in love with a movie like this.
Laura (Melissa Barrera) is at an all-time low. A promising singer and actress, her recent bout with cancer has left her shaken and emotionally fragile, especially after her boyfriend Jacob (Edmund Donovan) is overwhelmed by her medical issues and breaks up with her while she’s in the midst of treatment. Officially cleared by her doctor, she returns to her childhood home for rest, recuperation, and a healthy session of self-pity. Things get worse when she learns that Jacob’s musical – one that she had helped him develop and was promised the lead role in – is poised to launch on Broadway without her. But that’s not the end of Laura’s troubles: Not long after she moves home, she discovers a monster (Tommy Dewey) living in her childhood closet. He’s no more interested in having a roommate than she is, and he gives her an ultimatum. She has two weeks to get her affairs in order, but then she has to move out.
The rom-com element of Your Monster is where the film is at its strongest. When Laura and the Monster are alone in their little bubble, the world seems to stop. Aside from the whole being a monster thing, Monster is the full package – there’s a very clear line drawn between Jacob, the prince, who likes to think that he’s empathetic and progressive but is actually a pretentious douchebag who hurts everyone around him, and the Monster, who has no illusions about what he is, but has more culture, intelligence, and kindness in one claw than Jacob has in his entire body. The bond that grows between the two of them over the course of the film is a delight to watch, and Barrera and Dewey work together incredibly well.
But there’s so much more going on in Your Monster than just an oddball romance. There’s also an entire musical subplot, one that the creative team clearly fleshed out, even if we only see glimpses of it on screen. It not only offers Barrera an opportunity to showcase her singing ability, but casts a light on the kind of person that writer/director Jacob is, to have created such a tone-deaf, self-congratulatory ode to feminism from the mind of a straight white guy. It also gives Your Monster an over-the-top, theatrical climax that gets a little extra sparkle from its Broadway roots.
Is the Monster real? Or is he merely a manifestation of Laura’s pent-up rage at having been treated so unfairly by life? The movie doesn’t tell us, and frankly, it doesn’t matter. Your Monster works well on both levels. Regardless of whether or not there’s an actual furry creature who has been squatting in her closet since childhood, the transformation of Laura into a more confident woman who doesn’t need to take personal injustices lying down is incredibly satisfying to watch. Although there are times in Your Monster where it feels like we could spend more time exploring their relationship – and, for that matter, the lore of Monster himself – for the most part, the film coheres into a charmingly quirky rom-com with a tantalizing bit of a bite to it.
Directed by Caroline Lindy
Starring Melissa Barrera, Tommy Dewey, Edmund Donovan
Runtime 98 min
Language English