YOUR MONSTER (2024)
Reviewed by Jerry Saravia
The opening sequence of "Your Monster" is so tantalizing, so emotionally heartbreaking, so deeply unsettling that it made me want to scream for the agonizing-in-pain female lead. "Your Monster" has the protagonist Laura as one of the most sympathetic female characters I've seen in quite some time and she is played Melissa Barrera. Laura has a short-term fight with cancer and she is told by her pretentious, selfish boyfriend that he cannot be her caregiver. He leaves the hospital room in great haste and she walks out to the hallway with her IV and starts screaming his name. This scene coupled with her talents shining on the Broadway stage towards the end color her fighting spirit tempered with severely dark tones.
Barrera's Laura cannot overcome the romantic loss and longing she has for her boyfriend. She has sobbing fits every day and night, endures blood work from an impossible nurse, and cannot bring herself to even play the piano and indulge in her singing talent. Laura gets word from her best friend, Mazie (Kayla Foster), that Laura's lead role in a musical, the very role that she helped create with the director, has been passed over to a well-regarded theatre actress. To make matters worse, Mazie helps her long-suffering friend intermittently as she is busy with gym and auditions. Laura cannot get a break until the monster (Tommy Dewey) who has been living in her closet comes out. Yes, a monster of the "Beauty and the Beast" variety (from the late 80's TV series that is) and he turns out to be a regular guy who devours Chinese food and reads Shakespeare with panache - he can also bite someone's head with ease if so inclined. I would think Laura would rather spend more time with this soothing beast who tears up at musicals than audition for the role she thinks she deserves. Laura does spend time with the monster but she also wants to maintain her career as a singer, and is demoted to background dancing by her ex, Jacob the director (Edmund Donovan). He spouts such pretentious nonsense about women during their cold read that I wanted to throw up - he is only catering to women in this alleged feminist musical which looks fairly campy.
"Your Monster" has some cutesy exchanges between Laura and the Monster and some wonderfully spirited moments between them who have an unspoken history as roommates (I have a fondness for the smashing of plates to release suppressed rage). The Halloween dance number between the Monster and Laura dressed up as the Bride of Frankenstein is alluring and romantic. I did feel slightly pulled away from the narrative focus on Laura proving herself as independent and forthright, channeling what some critics referred to as her "feminine rage." I do not object to such scenes where the Monster is not present but I did feel her emotional talks with the creature were more honestly presented - he is an incurable romantic after all. The stage numbers were true in their own way, showing how an actor's sudden personal issues work against the material they have to fake. I also loved the confrontation between Laura and Jacob where she delivers such a lacerating verbal lashing that it would be enough for Laura to overcome her own insecurities with this man. Later scenes between them, including impromptu sex, just feel tacked on despite the fact she still loves him and knows he is having relations with another actress. I suppose we can say she can have sex with whom she wants and still hate the guy.
I enjoyed "Your Monster" overall and found it frequently moved me. The shocking ending will no doubt prove to a bit much for some to accept - it is an acceptance that feminine rage should not be suppressed yet we should keep our monstrous side on hold. You just have to know where to put that rage in a healthy place.
