Laura’s boyfriend broke up with her while she was battling cancer. Her mom is absent, and her best friend treats her like a burden. So, she has found herself living alone in her childhood home watching her life fall apart while she recuperates. That is until she bumps into Monster in her closet. He is the lovable grump who helps her find her voice and encourages her to stop being a doormat. This is where Your Monster takes the cloying romantic comedy beats and turns them into a journey to fall in love with your inner rage. This is also where the film charmed me and won over my cold little dead heart.
A Queen and Her Monster
I am not a romcom girl, so the more I discovered about Your Monster, the more I figured I was not the audience. However, if thee Melissa Barrera does a horror movie, I will watch it like it is my job (which is good because that is how I pay rent). I have been a huge fan of Barrera since Vida and have lived my best life with her horror streak. A hot streak that includes movies like Scream (2022), Scream VI, Bed Rest, and Abigail is iconic. It has been such a joy to watch her carve out her path toward becoming a horror legend because she is a musical theater kid. However, she can also seemingly be plugged into any genre. So, I know what a win it is every time she appears in a horror movie.
Most of us have gotten used to watching Barrera play badasses to the point that it feels bizarre to see her as a character with no agency. However, that makes watching Laura (Barrera) find her voice and release her rage that much more enjoyable. Each step toward owning her anger is a thing of beauty. If nothing else, Your Monster is the perfect vehicle for Barrera to showcase her range. Not only does this movie allow her to stretch her wings as a romantic leading lady without leaving the horror genre, but it also taps the musical category. So, if you skipped her movie musicals and always felt left out, you can fix that.
More importantly, her chemistry with Tommy Dewey (Monster) will make many romantically inclined viewers happy. They are effortlessly charming together in a way that is not cloying. We see why they are drawn to each other and need each other to function. When the movie confirms what most of us predicted on sight, it seems like the only logical ending because of how they navigated the relationship.
All The World’s A Stage
As a recovering theater kid, I loved that Laura was a theater person. I also enjoyed all of the loving potshots aimed at the industry. Instead of leaving this world in the backdrop of a movie already juggling so many things, writer/director Caroline Lindy mines it for gold. We get the womanizing writer/director making “feminist” plays. We get the questionable stage managers, chorus girl egos, and some backstage mayhem. The theatre becomes a second home in Your Monster as Laura’s anger becomes too big to fit in her house. This gives us, and the people in the space, a front-row seat to her grabbing the feminine rage that many movies this year told us they would deliver. As Laura’s words get sharper and her anger comes into focus, it is hard not to clap. This builds to an ending that is possibly one of my favorites of the year.
Why It Works For Me
Part of the reason Your Monster works for my jaded ass is because it is a romantic movie that never loses sight of the fact that you should love all of the parts of yourself first and foremost. This is not the corny Hallmark project where a woman throws away her life and ambitions because she met a man in the woods who wears plaid. Your Monster is a film that tells you to speak up for yourself, tap into your rage, and stop settling in all of your relationships. This is a genre-bending title giving us the good word instead of more of the same outdated gender ideas. It is unique, quirky, cute, and unafraid to rip your throat out.
Your Monster is currently in theaters.
