How I or virtually no one around me has discussed or heard of the monstrous comedy Colossal is beyond me, considering it stars Anne Hathaway and Jason Sudeikis, and has one of the most off-the-wall plot descriptions in recent years: After being forced to return to her hometown after being broken up with and evicted by her stuffy boyfriend, a writer (Hathaway) with alcohol substance abuse issues is responsible for devastating monster attacks in Seoul, South Korea. Take a minute to process that, I’ll wait.
You could say this movie qualifies as sci-fi, but Colossal treads into various genres as the drama escalates between Hathaway’s Gloria and Sudeikis’ Oscar. As childhood friends, Gloria reconnects with Oscar after her unceremonious breakup, and Oscar willingly supports and helps her get back on her feet, and the possibility of a new romance starts to bloom— or so it would seem!
But first, back to the central plot of the story: Gloria spends many a drunken, forgettable night stumbling through a children’s playground in her neighborhood in the wee hours of the morning. She awakens every morning to the television’s breaking news reports of a literal, giant monster terrorizing the people of Seoul, mimicking the same exact movements and actions she did the night before. She realizes that by simply standing in the same place in the playground’s sandbox as she did, she is behind the monster’s gesticulations and actions. As soon as she puts the clues together, it’s up to her to figure out how to stop the horror— but not before she unwisely shares this bizarre wonder with Oscar, whose “nice guy” act gives way to a power-hungry asshole who wants to stake his own claim to fame.
Written and directed by Nacho Vigalondo, the film is wise to not strain itself in delivering an answer to this phenomenon (it does, but, you won’t be that impressed). Hathaway’s Gloria begins as a hopeless alcoholic who doesn’t know how her addiction is harming others around her, including her boyfriend, Tim (Dan Stevens), and gradually turns into an empathetic heroine. As Oscar, Sudeikis is surprisingly adept at playing both charming handyman and sociopathic creep, and the subversion of character tropes is what plays best here.
Throughout, Colossal is a delight, and the more I give away the less fun you’ll have in following along with this fun, weird ride for yourself. There’s a bit of imbalance between the A and B plots within the film, but it’s no less interesting or escapist fantasy.
Colossal is streaming on Hulu, iTunes, Youtube, Amazon Prime, Vudu and Hulu Play.
Aimee Murillo is calendar editor and frequently covers film and previously contributed to the OCW’s long-running fashion column, Trendzilla. Don’t ask her what her favorite movie is unless you want to hear her lengthy defense of Showgirls.