Dir. Osgood Perkins
It’s March, and horror comedy is back on the menu. Osgood Perkins’ new feature The Monkey is fun in all the right ways and lacking in all the ones that matter as well. What thrives as a fun idea ultimately crumbles under the weight of actually having to be a movie. As negatively as that sounds, I found it be fun enough to enjoy myself. Perkins’ surreal version of the modern world keeps this from slowing down. The characters and situations are as outlandish as the log line for the film: what if a toy monkey could kill telepathically and can’t die.
Hal, and his aggressive bully of a twin brother, live alone with their mother when they discover a toy monkey in their father’s old belongings. A twist of the key and somebody dies: simple enough? When Hal uses the monkey to get rid of his twin brother, he quickly learns that we cannot control our own demise. There is no control over who the monkey kills, just that it does. After living without the monkey for 25 years, it’s the small-minded actions of Billy (who Theo James has much more fun playing) that cause destruction. As people in their life begin to mysteriously die, Hal is warned by his twin brother that he is the final target. Hal knows what his twin brother knows: Billy can’t be killed as long as he is the one killing.
Throughout the film, the main through line is the element of control. Hal is bullied, orphaned, emasculated while his twin brother dominated his childhood. His wife has left him for a life guru/self-help book author who both treat him as a child. Hal has lost everyone and tries to keep it that way as he has kept his own son at arms length. Impending doom clouds around his mind at all times, just waiting for somebody near him to mysteriously die again. His relationship with his son, Petey, is his final connection to human relationships. They are estranged with Hal requesting to keep his visitations to once a year, and with the threat of his mother taking full custody over Petey, he remains unchanged by the thought of losing him all together. It takes Billy’s interest in his son, and his ensuing peril, for them to ultimately….. reconnect? Their relationship is yet another piece of the story that ultimately fizzles out.
Ultimately, what rolls as a farcical story of existential dread reveals to be more of a #random sequence of creative and outlandish deaths. Similarly to Perkins’ previous film (Longlegs), the ideas are there -and interesting- but they are used as tentpoles to prop up a director that seems to prefer to have fun with our characters trauma and experiment with styles. It can be the choice of the viewer to determine how hard they would like to try, which at times may feel as though you are trying harder than the film itself. However, you will have fun, as I did. Theo James is both odd and funny casting for an insecure loser allowing life to walk all over him, but he is having a lot of fun. Coming out the same month as Mickey 17, his twin roles are effective. The twin characters are over the top, but they do represent the balance of the self in the reflection of a childhood of extreme trauma: retreating from life or dedicating it to revenge.
Lost at the Movies 