Review of Little Monsters (2019) by Bertaut1 — 14 Nov 2019

Funny and heart-felt, anchored by another superb Lupita Nyong'o performance.

Kind of like a cross between Kindergarten Cop (1990) and Shaun of the Dead (2004), Little Monsters is a hilarious and unexpectedly moving piece of work. The storyline is unquestionably clichéd – a loser who cares only about himself is forced to protect others, realising he's been a douche and must change his ways (with the help of a good woman, of course). We've seen this narrative template countless times before. But what's extraordinary about writer/director Abe Forsythe's Little Monsters is that he's able to create likeable characters and elicit genuine emotion from an archetypal structure (the zom-com) that seemed to be in its death throes.

Dave (Alexander England) is a man-child whose life is going nowhere. Unemployed and recently separated from his girlfriend Sara (Nadia Townsend), he moves in with his sister Tess (Kat Stewart) and her son Felix (Diesel La Torraca). Taking Felix to kindergarten one day, Dave meets and becomes infatuated with Felix's teacher, Miss. Caroline (the always radiant Lupita Nyong'o), and when a school trip to Pleasant Valley Farm petting zoo requires an additional chaperone, Dave leaps at the chance. However, an accident at a nearby US army base releases a horde of zombies, and so, trapped in the zoo and determined not to upset the children, Caroline must try to convince them that everything they see is part of an elaborate game.

The thing that struck me most about Little Monsters wasn't the zombies or the comedy, but the emotion; Forsythe never allows the humour to dissipate, constantly tempering the sentimentality. And it's a sentimentality that feels authentic and, more importantly, feels earned. Forsythe, whose son is five and has just started kindergarten, was inspired by his personal experience of anxiety upon handing his child over to a kindergarten teacher, with the zombies introduced later. This is an important point, as they're a means to an end, with no real importance vis-à-vis what the film is trying to say - which is that children can confer strength and, with their uniquely innocent perspective, offer a non-judgmental and often exceptionally perceptive view of the world.

The film's comic structure definitely has a vibe of La vita è bella (1997), with Forsythe getting a lot of mileage out of Caroline trying to keep up the illusion that everything is a game – zombies chasing people is a game of tag; the longer the children all survive, the more levels they will complete in the game; the blood all over Caroline is jam. Even funnier, at one point one of the kids complains because she thinks the zombies look too fake. The film also features one of the best sight gags I've ever seen, involving Dave and a photo of Caroline…or is it? There's also a brilliant scene involving Felix and a Darth Vader outfit, which features him trying to use the Force in a rather awkward situation, later telling Tess, "I am your father mummy", a line which made me laugh more than it probably deserved.

In terms of the acting, Nyong'o owns the film – her performance is physical, emotional, authentic, lived-in, and when the time comes, she's fierce and driven, with a real sense of psychological verisimilitude that renders Caroline as a believable, relatable person, complete with human fallibility. She also plays the ukulele for real, has perfect comic timing, and her singing voice is pretty damn good too.

Aside from Nyong'o, the film's other stand-out performance is a wonderfully over the top Josh Gad, playing US children's entertainer Teddy McGiggle. Introduced as a kind of hyperactive but generally affable Mr. Rogers, we soon learn that McGiggle is a cowardly, self-obsessed, alcoholic, sex-addict, who hates children and his comedic companion, a hand puppet named Mr Frogsy. And Gad has a blast digging into this litany of character failings - whether it be tearfully confessing to Dave that he's addicted to sex with single-mothers; drinking hand sanitizer; screaming at zombies, "I f****d your mother".

If the film has a problem, it's probably the character of Dave. We're asked to like him from the get-go, but his introductory scenes don't make it easy, as he comes across as a self-important and lazy slob. Of course, that's how he's supposed to come across, as it sets up his redemption arc. Some people, however, will undoubtedly sour to him to the point where that arc seems perfunctory, even cynically fake.

That notwithstanding, Little Monsters is a real gem - rarely have I seen a film so sentimental that avoids becoming turgid. Nyong'o grounds the whole thing, Gad chews the scenery magnificently, and Forsythe nails the comedy/zombie balance. The zom-com subgenre is almost completely in the rearview mirror, but Forsythe has been able to craft an emotionally genuine (and genuinely emotional) film that actually has something to say, and that has tremendous fun saying it.