Bad Milo is probably the best killer ass-monster comedy I've ever seen. It's a horror-comedy that occasionally lingers a little too long in the potty humor department, but that may be a necessary evil when you're dealing with a monster that resides in a man's colon. But the gross humor is offset with some clever jokes and surprisingly, a little heart. It's a funny, breezy, and ultimately interesting film.
Duncan (Ken Marino) has severe gastrointestinal problems. He's prone to long fits of gas as well as long and painful bowel movements (to the point where his loving wife wears earplugs to bed while he's doing his thing). The specialist he's seen believes it to be stress-related; Duncan is the kind of guy that bottles up his emotions. So the doctor schedules a colonoscopy, and his current prescription for Duncan is "no stress."
It doesn't quite work. Duncan's work life at a shady financial planning company takes a turn for the worse - his office is literally reduced to the crapper, and his asshole boss (Patrick Warburton) has changed his job from account executive to "firing everyone," since he's such a nice guy. In addition to that, Duncan's mother awkwardly insists on him seeing a fertility doctor, and - surprise - his wife is unexpectedly pregnant! So, the whole "no stress" thing is pretty much a bust.
Anyhow, all of the stress eventually leads to the appearance of Milo, a (bear with me) half-terrifying/half-cute little creature that comes out of Duncan's ass. Duncan's therapist (who happens to be into this sort of crypto-mythical stuff) says Milo is the manifestation of Duncan's repressed self, and in order to control Milo, he just has to deal with his problems. This includes all of the afore mentioned stuff, as well as his father who abandoned him long ago. Before Milo, you know, takes care of them (i.e. kills them) for him.
So that's kind of unique, yeah? But strangely enough, it never ends up feeling super grotesque or trashy. It's true that there is a bit of gore during Milo's killing sprees, a little endoscopy footage, and a big helping of potty & sex humor (not at the same time). But given the subject matter, it could have been way worse.
I guess it helps that Bad Milo! is really funny. It moves along at a brisk pace and most of the jokes land. The performances are solid across the board. Ken Marino is great as Duncan - he's got the whole hangdog, repressed but still sympathetic and likable thing down. Gillian Jacobs is also really good Duncan's supportive wife. She ends up playing more of the straight man role, but anchors things and really sells Duncan's odd problems. And it's got an excellent supporting cast - Kumail Nanjiani is fun as Duncan's mother's much younger husband - between this and Hell Baby, he seems to have a knack for being hilarious in an extremely short amount of screentime. And Peter Stormare is solid as Duncan's therapist - it's a tough role to sell (he just happens to know about colon-monsters?), but he does it well and is pretty damned funny. While it's not an All-Star cast, there are a lot of very good character actors in the film and they are all well cast. It really elevates the entire film.
Another thing I dug about the film is Milo. He's a mostly practical effect (there's probably a little CGI in his blinking eyes) and his design is awesome. He's kind of like a flesh-toned mini Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man-meets-evil ET, who kind of sounds like Gizmo. He can go from kind of cute to menacing at the drop of a hat, and the puppetry used to bring him to life is really quite good. He's got a very expressive face and a pretty adorable look - at least at times. If he didn't come from a guy's ass and kill people, I wouldn't be surprised to see some plush Milos at local toy stores.
Bad Milo! definitely puts the emphasis on the "comedy" part of the horror-comedy. Other than the occasional splatter during Milo's attacks, you get a little body horror (nothing graphic) and not much else. Because Milo! isn't really trying to be a horror film, there is never really any significant tension or anything like that. It's one of those films where you just know from the overall tone that nothing *truly* bad is going to happen.
But still, it's got a unique hook and is quite funny, and it's even a little touching at times. I mean, if "monster that comes out of a guys ass" is an instant turn off, it's going to be hard for Milo! to win you over. But if that sounds like something you could stomach, I'd suggest giving it a shot.
I would recommend this film.
No comments:
Post a Comment