TV Show or Movie: My Dead Friend Zoe
Where to Watch: Theaters, On Demand
Genre: Dark Comedy, Drama
What It Reminds Me Of:
Writer: Kyle Hausmann-Stokes, A.J. Bermudez
Directors: Kyle Hausmann-Stokes
Cast: Sonequa Martin-Green, Natalie Morales, Ed Harris, Morgan Freeman, Gloria Reuben, Utkarsh Ambudkar, Thom Tran
Premise: Engaged in a mysterious relationship with her dead best friend from the Army, a female Afghanistan veteran comes head to head with her Vietnam vet grandfather at the family’s ancestral lake house.
Review: First off, I love a television show or movie where one of the main characters is dead. Six Feet Under, Dexter, Rescue Me. A story where one of the main character is dead and kind of plays the subconscious of the main character. I think this can be hard to pull off, but when it does it is so good.
When I first saw the trailer to this movie, I was sold. I have loved Natalie Morales since Parks and Rec. Sonquea Martin-Green since The Walking Dead, and Ed Harris and Morgan Freeman were good newcomers who I think have a real shot at being big actors.
The movie is really good. It’s a little long, but I feel it works. We really get to see a grief-stricken veteran try to carry on and get by in their day to day life. The movie is very funny. The back-and-forth banter between Merit and Zoe is really funny. The movie takes place in present day, but has a lot of flashbacks throughout to their time in the service.
The last fifteen minutes are a complete tearjerker. I haven’t, surprisingly, cried at something in a while and this movie made the waterworks come out. There is a twist that will really catch you by surprise.
This movie was written and directed by a veteran and it is based off of his life.