Meghann Fahy Archives – CULTURE MIX

Review: ‘Drop’ (2025), starring Meghann Fahy, Brandon Sklenar, Violett Beane, Jacob Robinson, Reed Diamond, Gabrielle Ryan, Jeffery Self, Ed Weeks and Travis Nelson

April 9, 2025

by Carla Hay

Meghann Fahy and Brandon Sklenar in “Drop” (Photo by Bernard Walsh/Universal Pictures)

“Drop” (2025)

Directed by Christopher Landon

Culture Representation: Taking place in Chicago, the horror film “Drop” features a predominantly white group of people (with a few African Americans and Asians) representing the working-class and middle-class.

Culture Clash: A single mother, who’s on her first date in years, gets Digidrop phone messages from a stranger, who orders her to kill her date, or else her son and sister will be murdered.

Culture Audience: “Drop” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners and suspenseful movies about people being held hostage in various ways.

Brandon Sklenar and Jeffery Self in “Drop” (Photo by Bernard Walsh/Universal Pictures)

Even though the thriller Drop gets utterly ridiculous in the movie’s last 15 minutes, this entertaining movie succeeds in delivering suspense and some intended comic relief. The performances elevate the story, which is far-fetched but not entirely impossible. In this tale of a single mother who goes on a first date (dinner at a restaurant) with a man she got to know online, she finds out within minutes of their date starting that her son and her sister are being held hostage. In order to save their lives, she has to kill the man who’s on this date with her. The motives and the culprits are revealed in the movie.

Directed by Christopher Landon and written by Jillian Jacobs and Chris Roach, “Drop” had its world premiere at the 2025 SXSW Film & TV Festival. Although “Drop” has been described a horror movie, it’s more of a mystery thriller. The movie isn’t complete fluff because it has themes abut recovering from the trauma of domestic abuse. The protagonist of the story is an abuse survivor, whose decision making is affected by abuse experiences that she’s had in the past.

“Drop” (which takes place in Chicago) begins by showing one of several flashbacks to a terrifying incident that happened about four years before the main story take place. (“Drop” was actually filmed in Ireland.) Violet Gates (played by Meghann Fahy) is bruised, battered, and being theatened by her ex-husband Blake (played by Michael Shea) at her home. Another flashback shows that the ex-couple’s toddler son Toby is nearby in his crib.

Blake is yelling at Violet and threatening to kill her. At one point, a gun comes out, and Blake ends up dead. The last flashback scene reveals what happened right before Blake died. It’s the movie’s way of saying, “Don’t assume you know the whole story if you’ve only seen parts of it.” That’s also the underlying message of the entire movie, which is an intense whodunit mystery about the people behind the sinister acts that take place.

The present-day part of the story in “Drop” takes place when Toby (played by Jacob Robinson) is 5 years old. Violet moved to Chicago with Toby to start a new life. Violet works as a psychologist whose therapy clients are often abuse survivors. She is going on her first date in years, presumably her first date since the death of Blake. The man she’s meeting for her date is a photographer named Henry Campbell (played by Brandon Sklenar), whom she’s been talking with online for about three months.

Violet and Henry are meeting at an upscale restaurant called Palate, which is in a high-rise building with gorgeous views of Chicago. Violet is very nervous about going on this date. Her sarcastic sister Jen (played by Violett Beane) has come over to Violet’s place to babysit Jacob. Jen gives fashion advice on what to wear, such as telling Violet not to wear something she would wear in an office but to wear something sexier in case the date goes well. Violet wends up wearing a scarlet red velvet jumpsuit.

Jen tries to assure Violet before the day to not be scared of what could happen. Jen comments on the men who could be Violet’s potential dates: “They’re not all Blake … You deserve to be happy. And you need to get laid.” Toby knows that Violet is going out on a date and asks Violet: “Does he know about my dad?” Violet answers yes, with sadness in her eyes.

On the way to the restaurant, Henry texts Violet to tell her that he’ll be about 10 minutes late. While she’s waiting for Henry at the restaurant’s bar, Violet meets some people in the restaurant, where anyone could be a suspect for the terror that will ensue. A somewhat uptight hostess named Lindy (played by Sarah McCormack) and a friendly bartender named Cara (played by Gabrielle Ryan) are among the first people she talks to in the restaurant.

While walking to the bar, Violet accidentally bumps into a stranger in his 30s named Connor (played by Travis Nelson), and drops her cell phone in the process. Violet makes a profuse apology as an understanding Connor gives Violet her cell phone. Violet notices that Connor is by himself and is frequently on his phone.

At the bar, Violet is seated next to a man in his 50s named Richard (played by Reed Diamond), who strikes up a conversation with her. Richard says he’s also meeting someone for a first date and is nervous about it. Just like Violet, Richard said he first made contact with his date online. Richard, who confuses Facebook and Friendster, sheepishly says he’s not very savvy when it comes to technology.

As Violet and Richard are talking, a pushy Brit in his 40s named Phil (played by Ed Weeks) interrupts the conversation and tries to flirt with Violet. Phil somewhat backs off when Violet tells him that she’s waiting for her date. It’s later revealed that Phil is the restaurant’s piano player.

Henry eventually shows up and says he’s sorry for being late. Henry is an easygoing and polite guy whose job includes working in the press office for Chicago’s mayor. Henry has brought a bag that has his camera because he says he doesn’t want to risk leaving his camera in his car.

Violet and Henry are seated at a window table. Violet tells Henry her sister Jen is babysitting Toby tonight, and Violet says she wants to keep her phone on the table in case she gets any emergency messages from Jen. Henry says he doesn’t mind at all.

Their server is named Matt (played Jeffery Self), who is a hyper motormouth and is intended to be the character that makes viewers laugh the most because he doesn’t know when to shut up. When Matt finds out that Violet and Henry are on their first date, he reveals that this is his very first shift as a server at the restaurant. Matt then tells them that what he really wants to do is be a comedian, and he’s taking classes at Second City.

Within a few minutes of being seated at the table, Violet gets messages via Digidrop, which is supposed to be similar to AirDrop: People can share messages, photos and videos in the same WiFi network. It’s mentioned at one point in the movie that people need to be within 50 feet of each other to send and receive Digidrop content.

At first, the messages are photos that seem to be some kind of prank. But the messages grow increasingly ominous. In one message, there’s are two photos shown side by side. A photo caption says: “Torment a Stranger or Torment Violet.”

Violet shows the messages to Henry, who takes her phone and tries to find out who’s sending the messages by walking around the restaurant with the phone. Henry discovers that the Digidrop has blind spots in the restaurant’s lobby and kitchen. The restaurant also has surveillance cameras in several places.

Henry isn’t able to find out who’s sending the messages because many of the people in the restaurant seem to have their phones out. There’s a table of teenagers who look like they’re dressed for their prom. Henry and Violet assume that the teenagers are sending the messages to random people as a prank.

And then, Violet gets this message: “Check your security cameras.” Violet is terrified when she checks her security cameras at home and sees a masked gunman (played by Ben Pelletier) is in her kitchen. She soon finds out that this gunman has taken Jen and Toby hostage.

Violet is told by the person who’s messaging her that if she leaves the restaurant or tells anyone about what’s going on, then Toby and Jen will die. The person sending the messages also says that Violet is being watched everywhere she goes in the restaurant. Violet then finds out what this mystery criminal wants: Violet has to kill Henry by putting a lethal liquid in his drink.

The reason why Henry is the target of a murder plot is revealed about halfway through the movie when Violet is ordered to do something else related to this crime. And why was Violet chosen to murder Henry? The person behind this murder plot wants Violet to be framed for the murder. Violet tries not to panic in this high-pressure situation that becomes more dangerous as the story goes along.

As preposterous as this plot might sound, “Drop” is the type of movie that has enough tension and believable performances, it’s easy to get swept up in this cinematic ride. Fahy carries the movie with a thoroughly engaging performance. The other cast members also do well in their roles, with Sklenar showing good chemistry with Fahy.

“Drop” has excellent cinematography that sometimes replicates what someone might be feeling during a panic attack. The movie skillfully puts on display the fears and anxieties that people have about things that could go wrong on first dates and abuse of technology. Viewers have to turn off some brain logic when watching “Drop,” but the movie hits all the right areas when it comes to delivering an adrenaline-pumping mystery.

Universal Pictures will release “Drop” in U.S. cinemas on April 11, 2025. A sneak preview of the movie was shown in U.S. cinemas on April 7 and April 9, 2025.

Review: ‘The Unbreakable Boy,’ starring Zachary Levi, Meghann Fahy, Jacob Laval, Drew Powell and Patricia Heaton

February 21, 2025

by Carla Hay

“The Unbreakable Boy”

Directed by Jon Gunn

Culture Representation: Taking place in Oklahoma, the dramatic film “The Unbreakable Boy” (based on the non-fiction book of the same name) features a predominantly white cast of characters (with a few African Americans and Asians) representing the working-class and middle-class.

Culture Clash: A married couple with two sons have ups and downs in their family life because of their older son’s autism and rare bone condition; the couple’s financial problems; and the father’s alcoholism.

Culture Audience: “The Unbreakable Boy” will appeal mainly to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners and faith-based movies that put schmaltz over realism.

Peter Facinelli, Zachary Levi and Drew Powell in “The Unbreakable Boy” (Photo by Daniel McFadden/Lionsgate)

“The Unbreakable Boy” puts a fairytale spin on a real-life family’s unsettling problems. There’s plenty of melodrama about medical conditions and financial struggles, but there’s an over-use of movie clichés that sugarcoat the truth. The truth is that the family’s problems that are depicted in this sappy movie don’t get resolved as easily in real life as the filmmakers want people to think they can be resolved, by presenting a perky boy with autism as if he’s some kind of good luck charm used for the family’s benefit.

Written and directed by Jon Gunn, “The Unbreakable Boy” is based on the 2014 non-fiction book “The Unbreakable Boy: A Father’s Fear, a Son’s Courage, and a Story of Unconditional Love,” written by Scott LeRette and Susy Flory. “The Unbreakable Boy” isn’t a typical faith-based movie that gets preachy about religion, although there are certainly some religious elements to the film. Instead, it’s a somewhat misleading movie that makes people think that it will be about mostly about the “unbreakable boy.” The movie actually takes a detour and becomes about how the boy’s self-admitted disappointing father goes on a downward spiral and has to find a way to prove that he’s a responsible parent and husband.

It’s a shame that the movie’s title is not reflective of the movie’s agenda and focus. “The Unbreakable Boy” movie also changes the age of the title character, just to make the most of having a cute underage kid to make the movie more appealing to families. In the book, the “unbreakable boy” is actually 18 years old. In the movie, he’s 13. It’s easy to see why the filmmakers wanted to reduce the age of “the unbreakable boy”: It’s more dramatic to have an underage kid be emotionally wiser and more honest than his screwed-up father. Making the kid a legal adult is much less compelling.

“The Unbreakable Boy” takes place in Oklahoma, where the movie was filmed on location. The movie’s title character is talkative 13-year-old Austin LeRette (played by Jacob Laval), who has autism and who was born with osteogenesis imperfecta, a rare condition that causes bones to break easily. Austin inherited osteogenesis imperfecta from his mother Teresa (played by Meghann Fahy), who has the same condition. Austin, whose nickname is Auz-Man (his imaginary superhero alter ego), is the chirpy narrator of the movie’s story. Austin likes to wear a jester hat, which becomes a symbol of his cheerful optimism.

Austin says in the narration that sometimes things get broken in life. He ominously says, “This is the night when everything broke.” “The Unbreakable Boy” begins with a scene where Austin’s father Scott LeRette (played by Zachary Levi) is drunk at a New Year’s Eve party at a country club. Scott has Austin and Austin’s 11-year-old brother Logan (played by Gavin Warren) at the party with him when he drives away from the party with the boys as passengers.

The car swerves and narrowly misses hitting another car. Scott is obviously too drunk to drive, but the movie never really shows anyone actually confront him about this reckless and irresponsible driving, nor is it shown if he got arrested for driving under the influence. This drunk-driving incident is never mentioned again and the only clue that it happened is when Scott is later shown in an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting.

“The Unbreakable Boy” movie does that a lot in the movie: It has a dramatic, tension-filled buildup to a problem. But then, it abruptly segues to another part of the family’s life and leaves many questions unanswered, or it presents a trite, not-very-believable solution to the problem. You get the feeling that this family has a lot more dirty laundry that they just didn’t want to put in this movie. (Scott and Teresa LeRette are two of the executive producers of the movie.)

After this drunk-driving scene, the movie quickly goes into flashback mode, as Austin describes how his parents met and how the couple’s relationship progressed to becoming married parents. Thirteen years earlier, Scott was working as a medical supply salesperson when he went into a clothing store to buy a pair of trousers. Some green khaki trousers caught his eye but what really captured his interest was Teresa, a sales clerk at the store.

It’s mutual attraction at first sight. During this “meet cute” moment, Scott says he’ll buy up to eight pairs of the trousers if she’ll go out on a date with him. He also compliments Teresa on her bright blue eyes, which she says are bright because of a birth defect. Teresa gives him her phone number and says he doesn’t have to buy anything in the store but he can take her out for coffee. On their first date, a casually dressed Teresa is surprised that instead of going to a coffee shop, Scott has arranged for them to go to an upscale restaurant.

It’s the beginning of some communication problems that start early in the couple’s relatonship. Teresa has secrets that eventually get exposed. Scott and Teresa are casually dating for a few months when Teresa gets pregnant. Scott comes from a religious Christian family, so when he finds out that Teresa is pregnant, he proposes marriage. Teresa and Scott aren’t “in love” yet, but they’re getting there.

Teresa says no to the marriage proposal because she doesn’t think that she and Scott need to get married. She’s still emotionally scarred by her parents’ toxic marriage. Teresa says her father was an abusive alcoholic. Teresa also tells Scott that she has osteogenesis imperfecta, which is genetic, and she’s afraid this unborn child will have osteogenesis imperfecta too. Scott is more optimistic than Teresa is that their unborn child won’t have osteogenesis imperfecta.

Teresa’s main support in her family is her sister Lori (played by Amy Acker), a character who’s just in this movie as a sounding board to Teresa’s rants. Teresa’s parents are never shown in the movie, but Scott’s parents are. Scott’s father Dick LeVette (played by Todd Terry) takes the news in stride about the unplanned pregnancy. By contrast, Scott’s mother Marcia LeVette (played by Patricia Heaton) is furious because she knows that Scott now has to delay his plans to quit his job to go to grad school.

Marcia throws and breaks objects as she angrily shouts at Scott that he’s throwing his life away. That kind of violence isn’t very Christian, but the movie glosses over Marcia’s nasty temper as acceptable because she’s the type of “righteous” mother that these faith-based movies frequently excuse when these mothers are overly judgmental or hypocritical. Scott even jokes to his father that Marcia’s temper tantrum isn’t as bad as Scott thought it would be.

Scott and a pregnant Teresa move in together. And that’s when he finds out Teresa’s biggest secret when he discovers some of her legal papers: She’s been married and divorced twice before. Both marriages were short-lived, and her ex-husbands are no longer in her life. Scott gets upset but eventually forgives Teresa, who tells him that she’s sorry for not disclosing this information before their relationship got serious.

Scott proposes marriage again, and she says yes. Teresa wants to get married in a church. Scott wants to get married at a courthouse. Austin says in a voiceover that his parents reached a compromise. The next scene shows Scott and Teresa getting married in a church. It’s the movie’s way of saying that Teresa usually gets her way in the relationship. Teresa is never seen working outside the home again, so the movie implies that she became a homemaker after the birth of her children.

Austin is born, and the movie spends a great deal of time showing him as an infant, as a toddler (played by Roy Jackson Miller) and as a 5-to-6-year-old (played by Kellen Martelli), which is the period of time that Scott and Teresa find out that Austin has osteogenesis imperfecta and autism. There are several montages of Austin breaking his bones in various ways, usually from running around or jumping while he’s playing. Scott is shown as the only parent who’s with Austin when Austin gets his most serious injuries, which is another way of the movie putting an emphasis on Scott being the more “irresponsible” parent.

Logan is born two years after Austin. Logan, who does not have any health issues, is a compassionate and protective brother who gets sidelined a lot in this story because so much of the kid focus is on Austin, who does a few horrendous and abusive things while in a manic state of mind. Logan does not get enough credit for being such a wonderful child when Logan has so many reasons to be bitter and resentful about his parents having to pay so much attention to Austin.

Austin has the type of autism where he doesn’t know how to pick up on social cues, he will talk incessantly, and he will often take things literally. He will repeat doing things in almost an obsessive-compulsive way. He’s highly intelligent but socially awkward. And you know what that means: He gets bullied at school, but the bullying is psychological and emotional, not physical. The main bully to Austin is Tyler (played by Pilot Bunch), who actually gets physically aggressive with Logan, not Austin.

“The Unbreakable Boy” shows the ups and downs of the family and how Austin remains mostly positive through it all. Scott’s alcoholism gets worse after he loses his job. But he’s not the only irresponsible parent in the household. Teresa becomes unemployed too and appears to have become addicted to playing video games and shopping for things that the family didn’t need, thereby driving the family into debt. Teresa’s culpability is glossed over a lot in this movie, while Scott gets blamed the most as being the “terrible parent.”

But those are not all the questionable things about this schmaltzy film. Throughout the movie, Scott has an imaginary adult friend named Joe (played by Drew Powell), who’s supposed to be Scott’s conscience and “voice of reason.” Scott talks out loud to Joe, who sometimes dresses in identical clothing as Scott, and sometimes in different clothing. Joe mostly looks like a lumberjack who has nothing better to do than to hang out with Scott, who becomes a “sad sack” as his problems get worse.

The problem with “The Unbreakable Boy” is that it plays fast and loose with the truth and avoids answering some crucial questions. For starters, the movie unrealistically makes it look like Scott and Teresa had to take care of their two kids all by themself, even though there are indications that plenty of people could’ve helped. This potential support includes Lori, Scott’s parents and people at the church where Scott and Teresa attend. (Peter Facinelli has a supporting role as Preacher Rick, the church’s amiable leader.) The movie never shows if Scott and Teresa asked for any help in taking care of their kids. You don’t even see a babysitter in the movie.

Second, the couple’s debt is a big issue in the story, but the movie never explains if Teresa was willing to get a job to help pay off the debt, or if she and Scott agreed that she would be a homemaker, no matter what their financial situation. Sure, Teresa could’ve hidden all the debt she racked up, and Scott eventually found out. But the movie takes a very patriarchal view that it was Scott’s responsibility to fix this problem, even though Teresa was the one who caused the overspending problem. There’s also a scene where Teresa looks worried when she sees Austin’s medical bills that are a five-figure total, but then that medical debt is never mentioned again.

Third, that drunk driving scene is dropped into the beginning of the movie and then never properly addressed again. Instead, “The Unbreakable Boy” is more concerned about underage Austin preaching at the audience when he rambles on about his philosophies and observations about life. It all becomes a bit too phony, just like the movie’s force-fed concept that all anyone has to do is be in Austin’s presence, and life will turn out just fine.

Despite the movie’s obvious flaws, Laval gives a mostly delightful performance, although people with autism are probably the best judges of how autism is portrayed in the movie. (“The Unbreakable Boy” was originally scheduled to be released in 2022, but it was released in 2025, when Laval looks a lot different than he did when he filmed the movie.) Levi seems to enjoy portraying adults with emotional maturity issues, so this role as a flaky father is just more of the same for him. The rest of the cast members are serviceable, not outstanding, in their roles.

To its credit, “The Unbreakable Boy” has a positive message about how kindness can go a long way in changing someone’s life for the better. The movie also brings more awareness about osteogenesis imperfecta and autism, although families should teach any underage and impressionable children that this type of movie is not quite as realistic as it should be in portraying how public schools for children are legally allowed to resolve certain issues that are depicted in the movie. What’s really “breakable” in “The Unbreakable Boy” is how it reaches a breaking point of credibility in how these issues and more are mishandled in the movie.

Lionsgate released “The Unbreakable Boy” in U.S. cinemas on February 21, 2025.

Review: ‘Your Monster’ (2024), starring Melissa Barrera, Tommy Dewey, Edmund Donovan, Kayla Foster and Meghann Fahy

November 9, 2024

by Carla Hay

Melissa Barrera and Tommy Dewey in “Your Monster” (Photo courtesy of Vertical)

“Your Monster” (2024)

Directed by Caroline Lindy

Culture Representation: Taking place in New York City, the comedy horror film “Your Monster” features a predominantly white cast of characters (with some Latin people and African Americans) representing the working-class and middle-class.

Culture Clash: An actress, who is living with a cancer diagnosis, is pining over her playwright/director ex-boyfriend, when a beast-like monster from her past comes back into her life to comfort her.

Culture Audience: “Your Monster” will appeal mainly to people who are fans of star Melissa Barrera and don’t mind quirky movies that are unfocused and dull.

Tommy Dewey and Melissa Barrera in “Your Monster” (Photo courtesy of Vertical)

Horror and romantic comedy are genres that often do not mix well. “Your Monster” is proof. The movie’s tone is erratic. The “beauty, man, and beast” love triangle story is quite boring, even with good efforts from the cast. The musical subplot falls flat.

Written and directed by Caroline Lindy, “Your Monster” (Lindy’s feature-film directorial debut) had its world premiere at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival. The movie’s concept could have been intriguing if it had a much better screenplay. Sometimes, “Your Monster” wants to be cute and whimsical; other times, the movie wants to be dark and edgy. The end result is a movie that doesn’t quite know what it wants to be.

“Your Monster” (which takes place in New York City) begins by showing protagonist Laura Franco (played by Melissa Barrera) being discharged from a hospital where she had surgery for her cancer. “Your Monster” (which was actually filmed in New Jersey) never details what type of cancer Laura has. It’s one of many unanswered questions in the movie’s disjointed plot.

Laura and her best friend Mazie Silverberg (played by Kayla Foster) are both actresses, mostly in local theater productions. Laura is introverted, reserved and passive. Mazie is flamboyant, extroverted and ambitious. When Mazie arrives at the hospital to bring Laura back to Laura’s home, Mazie is still wearing her nightclub clothes from the night before (a shaggy jacket and tight maroon leather pants) and immediately starts flirting with a hospital orderly.

Laura is feeling depressed not just because of her health problems but also because her former live-in boyfriend Jacob Sullivan (played by Edmund Donovan) left her about a year after she got the cancer diagnosis. A flashback shows their breakup, where Jacob tells Laura that he can no longer handle her health issues and he says to her: “You need a caretaker.”

After coming home from the hospital, Laura doesn’t have a caretaker. She’s all alone and wallows in self-pity about it. She cries so much, there’s a montage in the movie about her re-ordering boxes of tissue from Amazon. And what a coincidence: The same Amazon delivery guy (played by Jake Nordwind) is the one who shows up at her door every time for these deliveries. It’s all just a way to have a scene of Laura making the delivery guy uncomfortable when she hugs him and literally cries on his shoulder.

And where is Laura’s family? Apparently, she doesn’t have any family members who live near her. When she arrives home from the hospital, her mother (who is never seen in the movie) has sent packages of food and $5,000. Laura’s mother is never mentioned again. It’s one of many inconsistences in the movie’s screenplay. What kind of parent sends care packages to an adult child with cancer but then never contacts the child to check in on that child’s well-being?

Laura’s cancer eventually gets forgotten about in the movie when the cancer goes into remission and the story shifts to her obsession with being in the musical that Jacob wrote for her to star in, but because of her cancer diagnosis, Laura will no longer get to star in this musical. The musical, which Jacob is directing as his Broadway debut, is titled “House of Good Women,” but don’t expect to see a coherent plot for this musical. It’s another missed opportunity that “Your Monster” didn’t have a good “musical within a movie” storyline.

Before Laura got cancer, she was not only the inspiration for “House of Good Women,” she also helped Jacob develop this musical, whose main character is named Laurie. Laura played this character in workshops of this musical. And she feels that she has a right to at least try out for the role.

There are a few awkward scenes where Laura shows up unannounced and uninvited to audition for Laurie. Her audition is a flop. The role of Laurie goes to a well-known TV actress named Jackie Dennon (played by Meghann Fahy), who is flirtatious with Jacob.

Laura is disappointed in losing out on the role. And she’s predictably jealous of Jackie but tries not to let this jealousy show. Out of pity, Jacob offers Laura the role as Jackie’s understudy. Jacob is surprised when Laura say yes.

Mazie gets a supporting role in the musical. Laura, Jacob, Jackie and Mazie are the only people on the musical’s team to get any significant dialogue or insight into their personalities. There’s a flaky stage manager named Dan McBride (played by Ikechukwu Ufomadu), who is briefly seen for short moments of comic relief.

What exactly does all of this have to do with the monster in the movie? The name of this creature (who looks like a wolf man) is literally Monster (played by Tommy Dewey), and he’s been a figment of Laura’s imagination since her childhood. A flashback scene shows that Laura and Jacob have known each other since they were kids. (Kasey Bella Suarez has the role of Laura at about 8 or 9 years old.) Jacob treated Laura like a doormat even back then, much to Monster’s disapproval.

Monster suddenly re-appears in Laura’s life when she’s still pining over Jacob, and her cancer hasn’t gone into remission yet. Monster’s personality is every romantic comedy stereotype of a platonic friend who will inevitably turn out to be more than a friend for the lovelorn protagonist. Monster cracks jokes and uses sarcasm to mask his true feelings. He’s dependable and always ready to give advice to Laura, who’s so caught up in trying to impress Jacob, Laura can’t see that her “soul mate” is right in front of her.

However, since Monster is part of Laura’s imagination, things get weird when Monster and Laura actually develop a sexual attraction to each other that is consummated. Monster, who has a bit of a bad temper, gets jealous when it’s obvious that Laura isn’t completely over her romantic feelings for Jacob. “Your Monster” is trying to make some kind of statement about how women should be allowed to have self-love and feminine rage after a heartbreaking end of a romantic relationship, but the way this movie goes about this messaging is chaotic and dull at the same time.

The scenes in “Your Monster” look like mini-skits and don’t flow very well as part of one cohesive story. The movie’s comedy is also uneven. For example, a scene at a Halloween party—where Laura is dressed as the Bride of Frankenstein and Monster shows up as himself—should have been hilarious but isn’t.

One of the big problems with “Your Monster” is that it never shows enough of the good times in the doomed relationship of Laura and Jacobm in order for viewers to understand why Laura is willing to put herself in embarrassing situations, just so she can be in the same room as Jacob after they broke up. Jacob is a one-dimensional villain in the story, so viewers won’t know what Laura saw in him in the first place. The movie does an inadequate and incomplete job of showing the musical collaboration that Laura and Jacob had before their breakup.

Of course, Monster is the “voice of reason” when Laura makes a fool out of herself for Jacob, but this Monster character is ultimately shallow. Monster’s smugness also gets irritating after a while. The person who evolves the most in the story is Laura, but her personality change (especially in the movie’s last 15 minutes) just never looks natural or genuine. Barrera and Dewey have fairly good chemistry in their scenes together as Laura and Monster. However, much of the dialogue in the movie sounds more like conversations between underage teenagers, not adults.

As for the musical scenes, they’re not terrible, but they’re not special. Barrera (one of the stars of the 2021 movie musical “In the Heights”) has good singing talent, but the original songs she performs in the movie—the solo tune on “My Stranger” and the ensemble number “Little Miss Polka Dot,” both written by the Lazours—are somewhat forgettable. Barrera also performs a cover version of Leon Russell’s “A Song for You.” “Your Monster” has sporadic moments of eccentric charm, but the movie’s identity crisis is ultimately too big to overcome.

Vertical released “Your Monster” in U.S. cinemas on October 25, 2024. The movie will be released on digital and VOD on November 12, 2024.