While Life After Beth had a cool premise, a spectacular cast and some great moments in it, the movie was ultimately a letdown. I really wanted to like this movie, but when you’re left pointing out all the ways the movie could have been better you know there’s a problem.
Life After Beth
Directed By: Jeff Baena
What I liked:
1) The Premise – A guys girlfriend comes back from the dead only she doesn’t know what happened to her. And slowly but surely she turns into a zombie. This premise is unique. It’s a nice juxtaposition from all the other vampire movies out there. First she metaphorically breaks his heart, and then she literally tries to eat his brains. And how her family deals with it is particularly interesting. They are all just so happy to have her back, they are unwilling to accept what he’s turning into. The plot twists, the reveals, how big things happen were all really clever. Plus the other great thing was…
2) The Cast – Dane DeHaan, Aubrey Plaza, John C. Reilly, Molly Shannon, Cheryl Hines, Paul Reiser, the cast is a phenomenal list of actors/comedians. I just wish…
What I Didn’t Like
1) I wish the characters were funnier – And more likeable. Dane Dehaan as the boyfriend, Zach, was frankly…annoying! No wonder why Beth was going to break up with him. He was clingy, needy, whiny and well just a lot of work. And he was stupid, like classic horror movie, “damsel-in-distress” kind of stupid. In fact, the smartest character was Beth (Aubrey Plaza) and she was turning into a zombie! The rest of the characters especially the “grown-ups” seemed to be equally as frustratingly idiotic. A movie can be funny without making all of the characters stupid. Which brings me to…
2) The Tone – I felt like Life After Beth didn’t know what kind of movie it wanted to be. Did it want to be a drama? A comedy? A dark comedy? A dramedy? A horror movie? A simple focus or shift in tone would have done wonders for this movie.
This movie had a lot of issues and there are a lot of things I wish could have been different about it. That being said, support indie movies! And the zombies were killer…get it? Killer?
Rating: 2 out of 5 Stars
Rants Of A Crazy Person 