Title:The Unicorn Store
Release Date: April 5, 2019
Director: Brie Larson
Production Company: The District
Summary/Review:
This movie directed by and starring Brie Larson is about a girl named Kit who grows up enjoying princesses, fairies, and rainbows and yearns to be an artists. But when the professor at her art school disapproves her Lisa Frank-style painting, Kit flunks out of college and is forced to move back in with her parents. Suffering from depression Kit decides that she has to become a responsible adult and takes a temp job. Some of the funniest scenes are basically Kit cosplaying at adulthood, and finding the people in the office is are also neither mature nor have it all together. (And 20+ years after being a temp myself, I had to laugh that temps are still expected to make lots of photocopies, and are complimented for being good at it).
Kit receives strange invitations which lead her to The Store where The Salesman offers to fulfill her dream of owning a unicorn. The Salesman is played by Samuel L. Jackson (who had such great chemistry with Larson in Captain Marvel) who plays against his tough guy persona, but still manages to drop in some profanities. In order to earn the unicorn, Kit must provide her a home, food, and a loving environment (meaning she has to work out her diffrences with her parents).
Kit takes on the first task by hiring Virgil (Mamoudou Athie) from a local hardware store to build a unicorn house. Virgil is also in a low-level job for which he feels he has not talent and is uncertain about his future, and it appears he takes on the seemingly absurd task out of curiousity more than anything else. But Kit and Virgil form a bond and their friendship begins to help them grow and change. Kit also gets the opportunity from her creepy boss to work on an ad campaign, which gives her a chance to use her artistic talents.
The unicorn plot could’ve gone in some predictable ways. Either The Saleman could’ve been a scam artist or Kit could’ve been delusional. But I’m glad that the story went another way entirely. The premise of the movie is basically having the Manic Pixie Dream Girl trope be the main character and then justifying her place as a real person. After all athletic boys are allowed to become jocks when their men even if they no longer play sports, and the itnerests of nerdy boys are well catered to for adult men, so why not make a space for women who still love unicorns and rainbows.
The cast in this film are great, especially Athie and Joan Cusack and Bradley Whitford as Kit’s parents. Nevertheless, I felt the humor was just a bit off and the movie was less satisfying than it had the potential to be.
Rating: ***
Panorama of the Mountains 