Monster Does, as Gloria Does

 COLOSSAL (2016)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

You might need a stiff drink or a Pabst Blue Ribbon after watching Nacho Vigalondo's "Colossal," a most unusual hybrid of a rom-com mixed with Godzilla and spiked with delirious performances. This is an anomalous blend of genres that are somehow fused together and can still be picked apart - both are successful genre sections on their own. This may be the first time where I'd say that the rom-com section works better, if only because it is not all prettified and lit with 10,000 bulbs. That includes Anne Hathaway's sparkling smile and wide grin.

This most unconventional genre-spliced film has Hathaway as Gloria, an often inebriated online writer who is thrown out of a shared N.Y. apartment by her boyfriend. She moves back to New Hampshire to stay in an empty house with no furniture, just an inflatable mattress. Gloria runs into her childhood friend, Oscar (Jason Sudeikis), who offers her a part-time job as a bar waitress. Just when you think that everything will escalate into a romantic partnership, you'd be wrong. The Kaiju genre threatens this relationship as Gloria discovers she has a link to a monster who is currently destroying the city of Seoul and killing its citizens. Her link is a nearby playground where she embodies this monster's every move - whatever she does on this playground at a certain time, the monster mimics her moves. When Gloria reveals this to the bar employees, including Oscar, let's say that major havoc is around the corner in more ways than one.

As just a story of Gloria trying to adapt to her hometown existence, "Colossal" works wonders with Hathaway giving a splendid, honest-to-the-bone performance as a thirty-something woman trying to reconnect to herself. Refusing to drink at a bar she works at, despite Oscar's often angry insistence, is the first step. Oscar is a drunken mess himself, maybe not at Charles Bukowski's levels but close. And this magical connection Gloria has to this monster gives Oscar a major ego boost - he believes he can become something more than an unremarkable bar owner.

Director Nacho Vigalondo ("Timecrimes") certainly knows how to weave the monster genre expectations around a personal story of Gloria's hopeful growth into someone who can take charge of her life. Still, the kaiju theatrics are not the most interesting elements, despite good use of CGI, and occasionally feel out-of-place with the key relationships in the movie. Sudeikis and Hathaway are so electrifying together that I wished the movie stayed firm with their characters - they are very well-defined by Vigalondo. "Colossal" is very entertaining and kept me invested in its rom-com dramatics, even with the rampant monster silliness. Seeing a monster scratch its head, just like Gloria often does, might make you reach for that Pabst Blue Ribbon.