Starring: Ken Marino,
Gillian Jacobs, Patrick Warburton, Mary Kay Place and Peter Stormare
Genre: Horror,
Comedy, Horror/Comedy
Rated: R
Duncan is a regular guy with a relatively normal life. He
has his own house, a beautiful wife and a decent – if stressful job. However,
Duncan also suffers from severe stomach pains and digestive issues. Upon
examination, doctors find what is believed to be a polyp which can be removed
with surgery. However, Duncan soon learns that this is no ordinary polyp that
has set up shop in his intestines. He has a little monster living inside him
that comes out to protect him when he is stressed, angry or upset, and often
brutally murders the cause of his host’s distress. With the help of his
therapist, Duncan realizes that the only way to stop this little monster is to
bond with it, learn to control his emotions, and learn to stand up for himself.
While the premise seems silly, this film is more than just a
bundle of laughs (which it is that too). On the surface it is a ridiculous
flick about a man with a people-eating monster living in his butt, but it also
delves into serious issues about stress levels and always being a yes-man. In
this film, Duncan lets everyone walk all over him – his domineering mother and
her much younger second husband, the fertility doctor his mother insists he needs to see, his boss and his new office mate are all people that treat Duncan
poorly and never let him get a word in edgewise. He just sits back and takes
it, resulting in Milo – the name he gives his butt monster- coming out to play.
I sympathize with Duncan’s character. I understand how
stressful it can be to constantly try to please your boss, only to be given
less than you deserve. I understand working a job that stresses you out so
badly you find yourself in the bathroom a good part of the day. I also understand
how letting anger build inside and never saying anything is never a good idea.
While in the movie, when Duncan is stressed, upset or angry Milo comes out and
rips someone apart, he is just a metaphor for the angry outburst a person
finally has when they’ve let their anger simmer under the surface for far too
long.
Ken Marino’s performance as Duncan definitely helps make him
a sympathetic character. He plays Duncan as sweet and good-natured with a
relatively calm demeanor considering the constant stress his boss throws at
him. Patrick Warburton is perfect, as usual, as Duncan’s jerk of a boss – a character
type he appears to have mastered. The last performance that really steals the
show is Peter Stormare as Duncan’s therapist, Highsmith, who just happens to
know everything about how to handle stress-induced butt monsters like Milo.
I found Milo himself to be adorable, despite the fact that
he lives in Duncan’s butt. When Milo isn’t murdering the people that threaten
Duncan, and he’s outside of Duncan’s body, the two cuddle and spend time
together. When Milo was calm, I found myself wanting to cuddle him too. In
those moments he looks so innocent and in need of nurturing.
 |
| I mean, come on! Look at that face! |
 |
| Just look at it. |
I liked the fact
that Milo was brought to life entirely through practical effects – he is a
puppet, not CGI, and a throwback to the good old days of horror.
The humor in is movie is often on the immature side, delving
into the potty realm, but that is to be expected in a movie about a butt
monster. There are a lot of poop jokes, and a scene where Milo latches onto a
doctor’s face, pulling back inside Duncan so the doctor’s face is trapped
between Duncan’s butt cheeks as Milo chews on it. There is also a lot of dark
sexual humor relating to his mother’s sexcapades with her much younger second
husband and just what they have stored in their basement.
The gore is relatively minimal considering how Milo tears
his victims apart. In one particularly graphic scene, Milo bites off his victim’s
penis, but you kind of feel like the guy deserved it.
Honestly, I was rooting Milo on the whole time. I truly didn’t
feel sorry for any of the victims – they all had it coming for being such
horrible people and making Duncan’s life so miserable. With Milo offing these
jerks, Duncan is able to find himself a happier existence.
Overall, this was a hilarious horror-comedy that doesn’t shy
away from using bathroom humor to make a good point about personal health. As
Milo is an embodiment of Duncan’s stress and anger, he is a part of Duncan, and
Duncan must bond with and accept Milo in order to make peace with his inner
turmoil. Leaving this stress and anger locked up inside can have serious repercussions on your
personal health (digestive problems, for example) and leaving it unaddressed
can lead to you saying or doing something drastic that you will regret – such
as blowing up, ripping your smug boss a new one and possibly losing your job.
While scenarios may not include protective butt monsters murdering those who stress
you out or hurt you, they, like Milo, are the results of holding back stress
and anger for far too long.
This was a great movie that made me laugh and think at the
same time, which is not what I was expecting when I decided to watch a movie
about a monster living in a man’s butt.
7/10
Trailer:
