Beauty and the Beast never looked so good.
My Monster is one wild, romantic, vengeful ride.
It is about an aspiring actress who gets treated shamefully at her lowest moment and then finds the most unlikely of awakenings.
Laura Franco (Melissa Barrera – In the Heights) has been with her writer/director boyfriend Jacob Sullivan (Edmund Donovan – Civil War) for five years.
She has helped him to develop his first Broadway show.
In return, he promises her the lead role.
Then she gets cancer, he dumps her and she is distraught.
After surgery, she returns to her mother’s home (only her mother isn’t there) and she is left to stew in her own misery.
Then suddenly, out of nowhere, a scary monster (an unrecognisable Tommy Dewey from Saturday Night) appears in her closet and totally disarms her.
In fact, he wants to kick her out of the house, but relents and allows her to stay for a fortnight, during which time the pair starts to bond.
Meanwhile, her ex casts the show she helped him create, but doesn’t even offer her an audition.
Still in love with him, Laura turns up anyway and ends up accepting the role of understudy to the lead.
Monster rages at Jacob’s treatment of her and wants her to start standing up for herself.
At the same time, Monster shows her another side of him, which is very much in tune with the arts.
Their feelings for one another grow, as Jacob’s true colours are revealed.
Writer and director Caroline Lindy was inspired to create Your Monster by her own health and romantic crisis at the age of 24.
First she made a short (2020) and now this feature film, being her longer form debut.
She has done a fine job, the result of which is a compelling, emotionally fraught, rom com fantasy horror with music.
At its core is learning to stand up for oneself against arrogance and entitlement.
The cast has some wicked fun with their respective characterisations.
With a mellifluous singing voice, Melissa Barrera transitions beautifully from downtrodden to resolute.
Tommy Dewey, under heavy makeup, tones down his initial aggression to reveal his romantic side. He can be both devilish and debonaire.
Edmund Donovan steps up as a narcissistic cad.
I love the nod to Hollywood’s Golden Age and the musicals of yesteryear, being another feature of the film.
It marks an important turning point in the relationship between Laura and Monster, as does the latter’s reciting of Shakespeare.
So, there is much to enjoy, appreciate and even sink your teeth into in Your Monster.
Rated M, it scores a 7½ out of 10.
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