drama, Ed Harris, Gloria Reuben, Morgan Freeman, movies, My Dead Friend Zoe, Natalie Morales, reviews, Sonequa Martin-Green, Utkarsh Ambudkar
March 2, 2025
by Carla Hay
Directed by Kyle Hausmann-Stokes
Culture Representation: Taking place in Oregon and in Afghanistan, the dramatic film “My Dead Friend Zoe” (inspired by true events) features a racially diverse cast of characters (African American, white, Asian and Latin) representing the working-class and middle-class.
Culture Clash: A former U.S. Army mechanic feels guilty about her Army best friend dying and sees visions of the dead best friend everywhere she goes.
Culture Audience: “My Dead Friend Zoe” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners and dramatic films about military veterans coping with post-traumatic stress disorder.
Inspired by true events, the well-acted drama “My Dead Friend Zoe” takes what could’ve been a mishandled gimmick (seeing visions of a dead person) and made it into a meaningful portrait of recovery from PTSD experienced by military veterans. The movie also has a subplot about tough decisions that people have to make when they have a family member with a deadly disease. “My Dead Friend Zoe” has the right touches of comedy without diminishing the serious issues in the movie.
“My Dead Friend Zoe” (which had its world premiere at the 2024 SXSW Film and TV Festival) is the feature-film directorial debut of Kyle Hausmann-Stokes, who co-wrote the movie with A.J. Bermudez. Hausmann-Stokes based the screenplay on things he experienced in his own life as a military veteran who lost close friends during war combat. The movie’s epilogue mentions that military veterans Luis Ramirez-Jimenez and Boris Ventura, who both died in the mid-2010s, are the two people who inspired the movie’s Zoe character.
“My Dead Friend Zoe” begins in 2016 in Afghanistan, where best friends Merit Charles (played by Sonequa Martin-Green) and Zoe Ramirez have been deployed. They are outdoors having lunch when Zoe sarcastically tells Merit: “If you ever catch me in some dopey group therapy, you have permission to kill me.”
The movie then abruptly cuts to a scene of Merit and Zoe seated next to each other in a group therapy circle somewhere in Oregon, where Merit currently lives. (“My Dead Friend Zoe” was filmed in Oregon and Los Angeles.) It’s soon revealed that Zoe is just a figment of Merit’s imagination in this therapy session because Zoe is actually dead.
In the movie, Zoe appears only in flashbacks or when Merit is hallucinating that Zoe is there. The flashbacks show how Merit used to be a different, livelier person when Zoe was in her life. The movie’s flashbacks eventually reveal how Zoe died.
Merit is a loner who doesn’t open up in these meetings. It’s why the group leader Dr. Cole (played by Morgan Freeman) won’t sign the paperwork to verify that Merit has completed the program. Dr. Cole is a Vietnam War veteran who’s in recovery for addiction issues and says that he’s been sober since 1978.
Dr. Cole tells Merit privately in a scolding tone: “What is it that you’re so afraid to talk about? If I were you, I’d think very seriously about what living in the past is worth.”
It’s revealed early on in the movie that Merit is under court order to get this therapy. If she doesn’t graduate from the program, she will go to jail. In other words, there’s more at stake for Merit than just her mental health.
While all of this turmoil is going on, another member of Merit’s family is going through a different type of mental health crisis. Merit’s widower grandfather Stan (played by Ed Harris), a Vietnam War veteran who also served in the U.S. Army, has been diagnosed with early on-set Alzheimer’s disease. Stan’s daughter Kris (played by Gloria Reuben), who is Merit’s mother, is considering putting Stan in an assisted living facility, which is an idea that Stan hates when he finds out about it.
“My Dead Friend Zoe” goes back and forth between Merit dealing with her personal issues and her grandfather’s issues. Most of the flashbacks with Merit and Zoe show that their friendship had a lot of semi-bickering banter. A major source of tension in their friendship was Merit had plans to go to an Oregon university after leaving the Army, while Zoe didn’t want to discuss any of her own post-Army plans.
Utkarsh Ambudkar has a supporting role as Alex, who works at Shady Acres Retirement Community, which is owned by Alex’s family. “My Dead Friend Zoe” keeps people guessing over whether or not Alex and Merit might or might not be attracted to each other. Merit seems annoyed by Alex—and not in a cute romantic comedy way—because she generally isn’t very sociable.
Although it’s inevitable that Merit will have to come to terms with her grief, “My Dead Friend Zoe” doesn’t make it a completely formulaic journey. Even though Stan can be ill-tempered, Merit has great admiration for him (he inspired her to enlist in the Army), so it’s breaking her heart to see his mental decline. Merit doesn’t have a close emotional bond with her mother Kris, who seems to have given up on trying to help Merit.
“My Dead Friend Zoe” occasionally has dull pacing, but it’s a minor flaw. The movie has the benefit of talented cast members who know how to handle tricky scenes that blend comedy and drama. Martin-Green does a superb job of portraying how complicated Merit is, while the other cast members also give credible performances. “My Dead Friend Zoe” has a powerful message about human connections, helping others in need, and how important it is to remember that grief does not have to experienced alone.
Briarcliff Entertainment released “My Dead Friend Zoe” in U.S. cinemas on February 28, 2025.