No Such Thing (2002)

I suppose it's a matter of taste (the reviews certainly weren't kind), but I was hooked from the get-go by a clever prologue that ends with a gag timed so perfectly that I spent much of the credits giggling uncontrollably. What follows is an ambitious and entertaining tweak on the monster movie. Part of its appeal is that it mulls over a simple question that doesn't even occur to most standard genre efforts: In today's world, could monsters exist? (And if they did, would we be frightened of them?) The film doesn't offer up easy answers, either. It does, however, offer Hal Hartley's trademark deadpan sense of humor and two great central performances by Sarah Polley and Robert John Burke. Burke in particular is fantastic as the Monster, a splenetic and misanthropic drunk who would kill himself if only he wasn't immortal. It's a meaty role, and Burke sinks his teeth into it. Great makeup, too. I very nearly gave this a B+ until it swung for pathos at the end and whiffed. And, as practically everyone else who's seen it has pointed out, it's pretty messy, especially in the final ten. (The media-satire thread peters out without much of a punchline.) But I still recommend it enthusiastically.

Grade: B