The most surprising film of 2024, Your Monster is an enjoyable shock and loads of fun.
Your Monster is a bait and switch, starting as a romantic comedy before morphing into something darker, catapulting it into a must-watch. For tonal shift, it’s climax is reminiscent of how catchy yet haunting and memorable “Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared” was when it first came out. It leans into the rom-com tropes. So, it lulls audiences into a sense of ease that they know where the story plans to head. However, the climax flips it all, and although shocking, it works from an entertainment standpoint. Your Monster makes the primal scream literal and shakes women in the audience to not tolerate the machinations of exploitative men.
Written and directed by Caroline Lindy, making her feature debut, the movie stars Melissa Barrera (Abigail, In The Heights) as Laura, a stage actress battling cancer and heartache. After all, her boyfriend, Jacob, played by Edmund Donovan (Civil War), dumps her while she’s in the hospital. So, when a Monster, played by Tommy Dewey (Saturday Night), lurking in her closet comes out, drama increases. When Laura’s ex moves forward with the play he wrote for her without her, Monster helps her change from a quiet, meek woman to someone filled with deserved rage. Of course, a love triangle begins to form, too.
Your Monster Shows Lindy Knows Rom-Coms While Magnifying Hypocrisy
Caroline Lindy knows romantic comedies, nailing the humor beats and the foes to something more that’s rampant in the genre. Although here it’s Monster who is antagonistic at first. All Laura does is cry most days while recovering from surgery. Meanwhile, her friend Mazie, played by Kayla Foster (Wilder Than Her, Call Jane), abandons her immediately despite vowing never to leave her side.
Lindy brings awareness to the hypocritical aspect of society with Jacob’s play, “House of Good Women.” A man writes a play about women’s hardships while contributing to it. Caroline Lindy’s knowledge of the genre inside out allows her to take audiences on a magical journey, complete with songs and dancing, before yanking the rug from underneath viewers. Thanks to Caroline Lindy’s skills, Your Monster is an unforgettable directorial feature debut.
The Cast Leans Into the Dramatics With the Music
Melissa Barrera gives a believably meek performance and superbly captures the transition to fierce and untethered. Additionally, her singing complements her character’s arc in Your Monster. Tommy Dewey is sometimes over-the-top abrasive as Monster, delivering the opposite of Barrera’s character. Although between both emotional landscapes, there is a medium that neither has. Combined with the music and score, the flick has all the rom-com beats, but the final union has an unexpected twist. Also, Edmund Donovan, as Laura’s ex, and Kayla Foster as her best friend, are both infuriating. Their performances are that awful friend or partner magnified, which works in film.
Just Her Imagination Or Is It?
Your Monster doesn’t handhold audiences with whether the Monster in Laura’s closet is real. So, it’s up to interpretation. It can be—and likely is—a manifestation of Laura’s unaddressed rage. Sadly, there’s no denying the pain women bear is tremendous. Additionally, in friendships and relationships, women blame themselves for what they suffer. With a man, a power discrepancy exists, and when they are effectively your boss, that gap increases. The climax is outstanding, complete with a dance and musical number that starkly contrasts the tonal shift. It jars yet feels perfectly placed within Caroline Lindy’s vision.
Your Monster is Beauty and the Beast meets Center Stage with a shift into “Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared,” hosting an unforgettable couple of end songs that viewers will hum long after watching. Lindy makes a fierce feature that’s entertaining and pulls off a shocking climax. It reminds me of the jaw-dropping end of Sleepaway Camp. At a time when more women’s rights disappear, perhaps everyone should unleash their inner monster. The most surprising film of 2024, Your Monster is an enjoyable shock and loads of fun.
