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★★☆☆☆
9 January 2018
A movie review of UNICORN STORE. |
“A lot of people with my same name have done terrible things, but my record is clean,” Gary (Hamish Linklater)
One had high hopes for Brie Larson's directorial debut. From SCOTT PILGRIM VS THE WORLD to ROOM to SHORT TERM 12, Larson has shown both charisma and acting chops. Even in patchy projects, like FREE FIRE, she commands the attention. That is what makes UNICORN STORE a double-disappointment. The flick is whimsy dialled to almost unendurable levels.
Kit (Brie Larson) is kicked out of art school, and has moved back home. Her cuddly parents, Gladys (Joan Cusack) and Gene (Bradley Whitford), try to shake Kit out of her funk. Believing you’re not good enough in your chosen career path must be a blow. “I would like to not be a great disappointment,” Kit observes. It seems her artistic style went against that of the education establishment. It is not clear if she was pushed or she jumped. Kit’s professional goals have been reset. Though, as the audience will see, her artistic temperament is not dampened.
One had high hopes for Brie Larson's directorial debut. From SCOTT PILGRIM VS THE WORLD to ROOM to SHORT TERM 12, Larson has shown both charisma and acting chops. Even in patchy projects, like FREE FIRE, she commands the attention. That is what makes UNICORN STORE a double-disappointment. The flick is whimsy dialled to almost unendurable levels.
Kit (Brie Larson) is kicked out of art school, and has moved back home. Her cuddly parents, Gladys (Joan Cusack) and Gene (Bradley Whitford), try to shake Kit out of her funk. Believing you’re not good enough in your chosen career path must be a blow. “I would like to not be a great disappointment,” Kit observes. It seems her artistic style went against that of the education establishment. It is not clear if she was pushed or she jumped. Kit’s professional goals have been reset. Though, as the audience will see, her artistic temperament is not dampened.
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Kit has no real plan, and ends up temping at a public relations company. Vice-President Gary takes a creepy shine to her, quickly promoting her. Wait till you see Kit’s awful, over the top vacuum cleaner advertising pitch. It is nonsensical, and seemingly devoid of irony. The sequence appears to be an excuse to shoehorn in a dance set piece. A shame, as the intent was to expose the patronising sexism of the original campaign concept. This is representative of the movie as a whole: An idea, about a melancholic aspect of the world, which is not built on, and instead something twee is offered as a kind of answer. Is this symptomatic of Hollywood creative teams lacking real world experience? Is the writing and directing and producing and green lighting pool too narrow?
There is sporadic stuff to enjoy though, e.g. funny moments and a diverse, charismatic cast.
Suddenly magical envelopes turn up for Kit, inviting her to “The Store”. UNICORN STORE is random. The supernatural pop-up reminds of MR MAGORIUM’S WONDER EMPORIUM (2007), and that is not a positive thing. Inside, The Salesman (Samuel L. Jackson) awaits. Like a genie, The Salesman promises Kit what she has always wanted, a unicorn. However, there are certain tasks our lead must complete before she can receive one. In my notes during the screening I wrote, the film feels like a hyperactive hallucination, and not in a good way.
One of the requirements is to build a stable. At a hardware shop, Kit meets Virgil. Some cute romantic sparks ignite. Everyone in UNICORN STORE is indie movie zany, bar Virgil (Mamoudou Athie, who is turning in accomplished performances on a regular basis – see PATTI CAKE$ and THE GET DOWN). It is as if Virgil accidentally walked onto the production from another movie.
UNICORN STORE unusually needed a surprise ending, to add some kind of weight to the movie equivalent of a glitter bomb going off. If, say, the twist was Kit imaging the whole movie after enduring an understandable breakdown, as a result of societal pressures, then UNICORN STORE might have concluded thoughtfully.
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