Review of Colossal (2017) by Ryan B — 17 Aug 2017

Without question, one of the oddest, most original movies I saw this year. Anne Hathaway plays a bit of lush, going through the latest of what seems to be a string of bad decisions. She retreats from her boyfriend and apartment in the city to seek asylum at her parents abandoned small-town home.

She soon runs into an old friend/flame who owns the local bar and offers her a job. What started as an attempt to escape and dry-out, now affords her the access to cheaper drinks and more of them. One morning she wakes up to the news that South Korea had been terrorized by a skyscraper-sized monster the night before.

The revelation to come to Hathaway's character serves as an explicit metaphor for the destruction she is causing in her own life. Colossal is riotous with laughs but surprisingly poignant about self-confidence, reliance, and abuse.

Seemed to be a strange choice for Anne, but after a string of high budget, high drama roles, Colossal makes a lot of sense for a more grounded change of pace.