Death of a Unicorn (2 ½ stars out of 4)
A movie like “The Room” becomes infamous because it took itself seriously, with disastrous results. It was bad because it couldn’t help itself, and that turned it into a cult classic. A movie like “Sharknado” is a very different animal (pun slightly intended). “Sharknado” wanted to be a cult classic, and so it was bad on purpose.
A24’s “Death of a Unicorn” feels more like “Sharknado” than “The Room,” but it isn’t trying to be bad. It’s trying to be weird, and by the time the credits roll you get the sense it would have been better if it had tried just a little harder.
The title of Alex Scharfman’s film is a straightforward description of the plot. On their way to a client meeting in remote Alaska, attorney Elliot (Paul Rudd) and his estranged daughter Ridley (Jenna Ortega) hit a unicorn with their SUV. Initially, Elliot tries to put the animal out of its misery with a tire iron, but Ridley grasps the animal by its horn and seems to have an out-of-body experience that bonds her to the animal.
When they complete their journey to meet up with Elliot’s client, they initially try to hide the accident by literally hiding the animal inside the SUV. Elliot is making a contract pitch to a wealthy and unscrupulous family led by a sickly patriarch named Odell (Richard E. Grant), but partway through his frazzled bid, the not-quite-dead-yet animal tries to fight its way out of the vehicle.
Once Odell, his wife Belinda (Tea Leoni), and his eccentric son Shepard (Will Poulter) find out about the beast, a sequence of events reveals that the unicorn has healing properties, and in spite of Ridley’s Lisa Simpson-like protestations, Odell decides to turn the tragedy into an immense profit. Unfortunately for Odell and co., the wounded unicorn isn’t the only magical beast in the forest, and “Death of a Unicorn” quickly becomes a bizarre showdown between man and nature.
The quirky plot provides ample opportunity for dark humor and strange goings-on, and you have to give credit to Scharfman and his team for following through on a bizarre idea. “Death of a Unicorn” won’t be to everyone’s taste—it won’t be to most people’s taste, really—but as long as Hollywood insists on playing it safe by churning out recycled remakes and reboots, movie fans will always have a nod of appreciation for these A24 efforts.
Still, a few tweaks here and there might have helped. Most of the story depends on Elliot’s decision to hide several hundred pounds of roadkill inside his SUV rather than report the accident or just leave it on the side of the road (the phone reception is bad, and perhaps I missed a reference to unicorns being an endangered species?). The evil rich people feel a bit too cliched, and Ridley is a little too sanctimonious to become a truly sympathetic character. If Scharfman had steered more into the weird tone and plot, these elements might not have mattered, but “Unicorn” takes itself just seriously enough to highlight its shortcomings.
One of the best elements of the film is Anthony Carrigan’s performance as Griff, the family manservant. His reaction shots and mannerisms are a highlight, and anyone who remembers him as the cold assassin Victor Zsasz in TV’s “Gotham” will enjoy his unique turn here.
Along with some regular profanity and a few doses of over-the-top gore, “Death of a Unicorn” feels a bit too abrasive to realize its potential as a fun laugher. It has plenty of winning moments, and it’s always good to see genuine efforts to make strange movies, but the sum of the good parts feels like less than the whole.
“Death of a Unicorn” is rated R for persistent profanity and sequences of violence and gore (often played for comic effect).