Your Monster

Your Monster is “Based on a Trueish Story.” Director Caroline Lindy wrote the screenplay after she was dumped via text while in the hospital. Lindy’s debut feature, an expansion of her 2020 short, could be described as a blend of two 1991 films: it’s Drop Dead Fred meets Disney’s Beauty and the Beast. A delightful Melissa Barrera plays Laura, a would-be musical performer whose selfish, wannabe Broadway-director boyfriend, Jacob (Edmund Donovan), leaves her while she’s recovering in the hospital from cancer surgery because, he says, “I need time for me.” Dejected and in a low place, she returns home to discover the monster who lived under her bed and in her closet as a child is back. Known simply as Monster (Tommy Dewey), he’s charming and sort of attractive, in the same way that some find the animated Beast sort of cute. They agree to share the space as temporary roommates and then lovers, all in an elaborate mental-break-of-a-movie. 

The story plays out with the usual romantic comedy beats, particularly of the Forgetting Sarah Marshall (2008) rebound romance variety. Laura distracts herself from the agony of abandonment by becoming closer to Monster, who turns out to be the perfect guy. Begrudgingly, he reveals that he loves musicals and can perform a monologue from the Bard’s The Comedy of Errors. He’s also emotionally intelligent and great in bed. But Laura is wounded and has lingering feelings for Jacob. Matters become even more complex when she begins working with Jacob on a musical production, understudying the role he wrote for her. Meanwhile, the viewer often feels too swept up in Laura’s budding romance with Monster and awkward situation with Jacob to consider whether or not she’s snapped. Is Monster real or a figment of her imagination? The film doesn’t explore this question much. However, the answer in the last scene is enough to garner some added respect for Lindy’s commitment to her story. 

In part a love letter to musicals, Your Monster features several scenes of musical appreciation and rehearsals, with a finale centered around Jacob’s vapid production. Apart from Monster—who appears with practical if generic-looking makeup that at least looks better than the Beast from Disney’s so-called live-action Beauty and the Beast from 2017—much of the production appears grounded thanks to its unflashy camerawork and realistic locations. The material allows Barrera to showcase her singing again after In the Heights (2021) and blend those skills with her recent scream queen work (see Scream from 2022, Scream VI, and Abigail). Alongside her chummy costar Dewey, Barrera makes an inspired romantic lead in a film that offers a cute alternative to other monster romances, such as this year’s disastrous Lisa Frankenstein. In the end, Lindy’s take on the psychological effects of a devastatingly bad breakup is gut-wrenching in its implications, and her portrait of healing is admirably warped.