When you’re watching an A24 movie, especially one that is fantastical in its elements, there is no way to prepare, the audience is in for a ride and mileage may vary. This is not to say that their catalogue is bad, because by no means is that accurate, but some of their projects get *weird* and while Alex Scharfman’s Death of a Unicorn is certifiably bananas it is also a deeply satirical look at the medical industry that is truly as scathing as it is hilarious. While the effects in the movie are slightly outlandish in their realism of the portrayal of the mythical creatures, the performances from the cast (mostly) is what stands out here, so lock in for one of the most bizarre and wonderfully insane dark comedic satires.
The movie focuses on Elliot and Ridley (Paul Rudd and Jenna Ortega respectfully) as they’re on their way to Elliot’s bosses house so he can help them sort out some end of life care/prep him to be the family’s second hand man. Ridley is incredibly against this trip as her relationship with Elliot has been strained ever since her mom passed away from cancer, as she inadvertently blames Elliot’s boss as they’re in pharmaceuticals and didn’t help his wife. The family consists of Odell (Richard E Grant), Belinda (Tea Leoni) and their son Shepard (Will Poulter) along with their butler/servant Griff (Anthony Carrigan). On the way down to Odell’s, Elliot accidentally hits a unicorn and severely injures it – worried about whats going to happen if he reports it, he bludgeons it to death and puts it in the back of his car and continues his journey, but further exasperating the issues with Ridley. When they continuously butt heads at Odell’s it all comes to a head when the unicorn wakes up, breaks Elliot’s car, and then is discovered to have healing powers – as Elliot and Ridley had minor medical issues clear up. Odell wants to take advantage of this, kills the unicorn, and realizes its medical science can and literally does cure his cancer, so they’re now determined to exploit it and profit on it despite the dangers associated and chaos erupts.
Death of a Unicorn is truly insane, in possibly the best ways possible but it is so over the top insane that its surely going to alienate some of the audience. However, the performances from everyone except the main cast are phenomenal. While Rudd and Ortega are good, they’re not remarkable or memorable in the film as those designations belong to Grant, Leoni, and Poulter with a special mention to Anthony Carrigan as well. The four of them are so over the top in their performances for both good and evil, that they steal moments away from everyone else. Carrigan with his facial reactions, Leoni with her patronizing I’m holier than you attitude, Grant with his masterful depiction of greed and evil with Poulter being the best of pure evil greed and manic, his performance is going to become a meme worthy endeavor and be talked about as a highlight of his career.
While Scharfman creates a looney world for the audience to get involved in, his supporting cast carries Death of a Unicorn to magnificent heights. Rudd and Ortega should’ve been standouts but get overshadowed by the brilliant supporting cast that creates a world of madness and insanity for the audiences to delight in. A scathing look at the medical practices of the world and big pharma that is packed to the brim with horror comedy and gruesomeness that gives the one percenters in pharmaceuticals the ends they truly deserve. Death of a Unicorn is a satirical look at big pharma and a touching look at parenting after the death of a partner, grounded by its supporting cast.
