Reviews: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/your_monster

Saw this last night for the Regal Monday Mystery movie. It was okay. It has theater stuff so that is usually a bonus for me. Kind of reminded me of Lisa Frankenstein.

Does the "Monster"


I will never see this but am curious. Lisa Frankenstein looked terrible also.


Does the monster surf on a van?

It’s not as noticeable in the actual trailer but the monster in that poster does look awfully Teen Wolfy.

and the real monster was NOT the friends we made along the way. or was it?

I had mixed feelings about this movie. Melissa Barrera proves she can carry a rom-com with a thoroughly engaging performance, but the movie is let down repeatedly by some overly simplistic writing and predictable plot twists. It comes as little surprise that this film's writer/director suffered a similar end to a romantic relationship as the Barrera character does when she is unceremoniously dumped by her longtime boyfriend in the middle of her having to deal with a life-changing medical issue (this is like the flip side of We Live in Time). What follows is a kind-of wish fulfillment / revenge fantasy that is powered by a sense that we are watching a filmmaker trying to come to terms with a bitter life experience, but done in a disjointed manner that feels like a jumble of ideas about toxicity and empowerment that haven't been translated into a fully cohesive narrative.

While the relationship between Barrera's character and her "monster" (who comes off less a beast and more like the GEICO caveman), does make for some entertaining moments (particularly a duet of Leon Russell's A Song For You), the writing barely rises above basic TV sitcom quality, with the manner in which the pair goes from being antagonists to friends and then lovers playing out like the type of romantic fluff we've already seen too many times before. And Barrera's rocky relationship with her deceitful ex is also portrayed in a mostly predictable manner, though you can at least feel the emotional anger and anguish that drives it.

In the third act, Barrera's character goes through a drastic personality change that doesn't quite feel genuine and her outbursts of emotion seem more contrived than natural. Similarly, the movie makes an awkward transition from being a silly rom-com to being a warped cautionary tale about the dangers of unleashing your id / rage. Like two other movies of recent vintage, we have another one here that builds up to an onstage performance that doesn't quite go as planned, but it's satisfying enough that it leaves you wishing we had gotten to see more scenes of Barrera doing her thing on a Broadway stage.

This will be up on Max on Friday.