COLOSSAL (2017) **

Gloria (Anne Hathaway) is a perennial screw-up whose propensity for getting blackout drunk hampers her ability to get her life together.  She returns to her hometown and winds up getting a job at a bar owned by her childhood friend Oscar (Jason Sudeikis).  One day, a giant monster storms Seoul seemingly out of the blue.  Gloria eventually discovers she’s in control of the monster, but can she get control over her personal life?

Writer/director Nacho (Open Windows) Vigalondo’s Colossal is certainly ambitious.  It’s an oddball melding of quirky indie comedy-drama with kaiju creature feature.  It’s a promising concept, but it just never clicks.  After a solid set-up, things go off the rails once Sudeikis becomes a vengeful giant robot.  Whatever points Vigalondo was trying to make about the worldwide effect of toxic masculinity are clunky at best.  Also, it wouldn’t have hurt to have better effects for the monsters.  Instead, we’re stuck with some ugly CGI creations that look like a step above your average Asylum flick.

Colossal’s biggest crime is that it wastes a good supporting cast.  Tim Blake Nelson and Dan Stevens are two of my favorite actors working in the biz today.  Tragically, they are given virtually nothing worthwhile to do.  Sudeikis is just fine as the asshole boss who becomes domineering tyrant once he learns he can stomp on buildings thousands of miles away.  It’s a more serious role than he’s used to, and he rises to the challenge admirably.  I just wish Hathaway wasn’t so miscast.  It also doesn’t help that her character is pretty damn annoying.  

Despite all that, Colossal remains watchable, even if it’s overlong and squanders much of its early potential.  It’s not a colossal waste of time or anything.  More like a big missed opportunity.

AKA:  Synchronized Monster.