Colossal

2016's COLOSSAL has this truly intriguing premise: the intensity of the troubles of a young woman in New England are echoed by a giant reptile monster's ("kaiju") destructive rampage of South Korea.  When I first read this,  I conjured all sorts of ideas as to how this story would develop.  Perhaps for the better, COLOSSAL does not unfold in quite as dark and grisly a fashion, yet there are enough of both elements within a disciplined screenplay to make this umpteenth telling of alcoholism and arrested development quite original.

A troubled young woman named Gloria (Anne Hathaway) finds herself back in her New Hampshire hometown after her boyfriend kicks her out of their Manhattan apartment.  Gloria's alcohol fueled behavior and forgetfulness has reached a crescendo with Tim (Dan Stevens), who, let's face it, is a fastidious twit.  Retreating to her childhood home (parents have moved to Florida or somewhere), Gloria attempts to regroup and clean up her act.  She runs into her old days' friend Oscar (Jason Sudeikis), who now owns and runs his father's old bar.  It is there that Gloria accepts a new job.

Not the best of ideas.  Gloria soon joins Jason and a couple of other guys for after hours blowouts.  She usually ends up passed out on the playground of her youth.  Soon, reports of the devastation in Seoul fills the news.  What at first seems like merely oh-what-a-shame across the world far removed tragedy suddenly becomes a very close to home dilemma, a crisis that becomes even more curious when a giant robot joins the monster in Seoul after a drunken Oscar also stumbles off a hangover on that playground.

COLOSSAL is not exactly what I was expecting, and not a perfect film.  Writer/director Nacho Vigalondo may not entirely satisfactorily personify his ideas in the science fiction mirror story, but also thankfully doesn't overplay that element.  Viewers expecting a GODZILLA, TRANSFORMERS, or PACIFIC RIM type extravaganza will be frustrated and baffled.  But there's just enough to give the usual approaching middle aged angst opera the shot in the arm it desperately needs.

I found Hathaway and Sudeikis to be fairly believable, though many current and former drunks may disagree.  I dunno, I've had moments like theirs and could relate.  At times, you understand the other characters' frustration with Gloria's listlessness, but perhaps the real story is of a broken woman finally breaking the shackles of male toxicity in her life.