Netflix
Brie Larson is on a roll so far this year with Captain Marvel and now her directorial debut, Unicorn Store on Netflix. I have always admired Brie Larson as an actress and loved her roles in such movies as Short Term 12, Kong: Skull Island, and Scott Pilgrim vs the World. I was curious to see how she would handle the job of a director as well as star too. Plus, this is yet another reunion of Brie Larson and Samuel L. Jackson, so that hooked me too since they work well together.
Brie Larson stars as Kit, a young woman struggling to find her place in the world. She adores bright paint, unicorns, and expressing herself. After landing back in her parents’ house, she takes on a temp job but soon receives a mysterious invitation to fulfill a lifelong dream: owning a unicorn. She meets Samuel L. Jackson who refers himself as The Salesman and he tasks her with preparing for the arrival of a unicorn. The tasks include building a stable, bonding with her parents, and being financially ready for a unicorn. She enlists the help of a young hardware store worker to build a stable for the unicorn, and they bond along the way.
Brie Larson was fantastic as Carol Danvers in Captain Marvel and she shines in Unicorn Store as well. I admired her energy in the film and her willingness to explore a new side of herself. She is constantly upbeat and her love for all things bright and mystical carries throughout the film. Samuel L. Jackson is good as well as someone who provides Kit with tasks to prepare for a unicorn. His performance is a bit over the top, but that is nothing new from him. His bright clothes and wacky hairstyle stand out in the movie. Another stand out in the movie was Mamoudou Athie who played Virgil, a young man who joins Kit in helping with the process of obtaining a unicorn. Athie and Larson have great chemistry and their friendship progressed smoothly throughout the film.
The script is all over the place with many different things happening at once. Kit is trying to prepare herself for a unicorn as well as navigate through her new job, which is presenting an idea for a new vacuum. The film mostly focuses on Kit looking forward to a new unicorn, but everything that follows happens to be a metaphor. The whole movie just seems to be one big metaphor for the difficulty of letting go of your childhood and entering adulthood. Even her presentation of a new vacuum is a metaphor for sucking up negative things in your life. I would be fine if these metaphors and messages were subtle, but the characters spent time trying to explain what the unicorn, The Salesman, vacuum, and other things represented. While I think this message is relatable for many viewers, it seemed a bit heavy handed.
I thought the acting and relationships were good, but overall, I thought this film was dull. I appreciated the message Brie Larson was trying to get across, but it seemed that is all she wanted to do. I never felt connected to Kit or invested in her storyline. Unicorn Store was an odd film that never amounted to much and it resulted in a very forgettable Netflix movie. I hope Samuel L. Jackson and Brie Larson can reunite in Avengers: Endgame later this month, which I am sure will be better than Unicorn Store.
Unicorn Store has a run time of 1 hour 32 minutes and is rated TV-PG.
Netflix
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