Review by Chris Rennirt
Have you ever wished that something would eliminate all the causes of all your stress, quickly and efficiently? What if whatever needed to be done was achieved leaving you responsible for nothing? What if the “something” that did the work had to be a monster? Hesitating now, are you? But wait! It gets worse, if not perversely better! The monster lives in your butt! It comes out when necessary, does the dirty work with a vengeance and, still worse, returns to your butt when the job is done? If you’re still reading this review, if you haven’t been grossed out and said, “Hell no!” good for you! Bad Milo (directed by Jacob Vaughan, written by Benjamin Hayes and Jacob Vaughan) is a movie as thought-provoking and satisfying as it is gross and disturbing. And for those of you who like a good dark comedy, you’re probably already laughing.
“Hey Sarah, I’m home. Guess What? I have an alien in my ass.” ~ Duncan
What’s it all about? Duncan Hayslip (Ken Marino) is a man who spends hours in the bathroom, everyday, on the toilet, struggling and screaming to pass gas, stool or whatever he can get out. He’s a man with PSM (Poor Stress Management) and a wife who wants a child he’s nowhere near ready for, neither fathering nor conceiving. Duncan seeks medical attention and therapy at the urging of his wife…and thus begins the anomalies of his life and the preternaturally pottied plot of the movie.
Duncan (Ken Marino) and Sarah (Gillian Jacobs) at the doctor’s office, in Bad Milo!
Bad Milo is a movie with a monster as a metaphor for (and a manifestation of) stress, anxiety and fear. Other movies of this type come to mind: Possession (1981), Babadook (2014), The Monster (2016), and Smile (2022). But, Bad Milo is a movie unlike those or any of its kind; it’s a movie unlike any other…of any kind! If you haven’t figured that out yet, reread the first paragraph of my review!
Highsmith (Peter Stormare) giving Duncan the feather treatment!
Speaking of monsters, some come from bad places, and they are nothing but evil, pure and unadulterated, with no redeeming qualities, purposes or effects. They’re just evil for the sake of being evil, and that’s it. (Leatherface of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre from 1974 is a quintessential, personal-favorite monster of this type.) Milo is a monster who comes from a bad place “too terrifying to imagine,” but he’s a good monster…a good “butt” monster! To balance things all the better, he’s a monster who’s cute as cute can be. (E.T. comes to mind, since they look a lot alike.) Milo’s big, black, batting eyes and cooing vocalizations give him an endearing, loveable appearance, even when he’s showing his teeth. As a good monster and truly a part of Duncan, physically as well as emotionally, Milo does only what Duncan needs done most; he protects Duncan and, in turn, protects himself. With all of his cuteness and good intentions, how can you not like him? How can you really call him a monster? Milo is, literally and figuratively, a metaphor born of gut feelings, manifesting himself as a visceral, organic creature, driven by anxiety and vengeance. In this sense, he can be and does become a monster in the bad sense, hence the movie’s title. Interestingly, the relationship between Duncan and Milo is symbiotic–one in which the man and the monster are one and the same, at odds with one another at times, but still the same, with the same self-preserving objectives and feelings. This duality alone makes Bad Milo more than the mindless dark comedy it presents itself to be superficially. Beneath the surface, there is much more!
“This thing is a part of you. If you kill it, it would be like giving yourself a lobotomy.” ~ Highsmith
Lightening the load of what sounds like an otherwise disgusting, anally painful plot is genuine humor, with even the occasional belly laugh. Bad Milo is loaded with jokes and one-liners. While not every one hits the punchline, more than enough do, keeping the movie and all its toiletries well afloat. The balance of crude humor with greater depth of meanings and metaphors–if you actually THINK about it–is beyond well done. If all you get out of the movie in the end is what I wrote at the beginning, about the monster in the man’s ass, then you’re definitely not thinking!
“There is this ancient myth surrounding the anus.” ~ Highsmith
Another treat, and one that requires no thought to appreciate, is the throwback use of 100% practical effects! Milo is a welcome, old-school puppet creature leaving nothing to the imagination. Yes, there’s no CGI here, thank God! The creases in Milo’s shiny, glistening skin make him something that truly could live in your colon. Even though that sounds disgusting again, trust me, it somehow makes him look all the cuter! Could a polyp with arms, legs, and eyes ever elicit more affection? Probably not! (Yes, I’m actually Googling a Milo plush toy right now!)
“I want to bypass your conscious mind to access your subconscious mind, where the real you might be.” ~ Highsmith
The acting from all involved is exaggerated, larger than life, intentionally, fitting and better developing the tone of the movie. All of the humans are more like caricatures of themselves, complementing the humor and over-the-top plot. Ken Marino plays the part of Duncan as normally as possible, under the circumstances; but a man can be “normal” only so long, once he discovers an alien living in his butt! Marino, with solid acting, transforms and adapts Duncan to his ever-changing, ever unbelievable life, in a believable way. Duncan’s therapist, Highsmith (Peter Stormare) is a stream-of-consciousness thinker who verbalizes his deadpan thoughts (much like the comedian Steven Wright), making clinical sense of the movie’s nonsense. Duncan’s boss, Phil is played by Patrick Warburton (Elaine’s boyfriend in “Seinfeld” and the “Go Like A Pro” man in National Car Rental commercials). Warburton is the same quirky character here as he is everywhere else, exaggerating every expression and movement like a mime, with annoying excess at times. The wife, Sarah (Gillian Jacobs), oddly, is the only character who seems mostly normal, through most of the movie. She reacts to the absurdities in normal ways, until perhaps the end; and calling it a reverse rectal catharsis will only intrigue you! Otherwise, Sarah is a mostly normal person contrasting, emphasizing, and maximally humorizing all that is NOT normal. In the movie world of Bad Milo, with everyone a caricature, a monster living in a man’s anus seems not so bizarre at all. Over-the-top characters support the over-the-top world of the movie. Without such characters, Bad Milo would fall flat, being necessarily unbelievable in a normal-people world. Skillfully, writers Benjamin Hayes and Jacob Vaughan figured this out and got it right! Here, even the world at large is bizarre enough for Bad Milo, evident in the reports by the movie’s news media. Exactly how much carnage and death can a “rabid raccoon” really cause?
How could a face so cute be “Bad”? I’m already wanting a plush toy of this little guy!
And let’s not forget about defining the arguable main character, if not equal in the Milo/Duncan duo. Milo! He could have just been a monster, also cute and endearing, without stealing the show as number one; he could have just been number two. But, instead, Milo rises, as his personality develops, to the number one position. As we get to know him better, he seems more human, his anthropomorphic features and expressions making the illusion easy. As Milo becomes more human, we begin to care about him, making him less of a monster…or not a monster at all. Instead, perhaps Milo is a creature…since the word “creature” has less pejorative connotations. Despite Milo being “bad” (sometimes very bad), he is still more Milo the Creature than Milo the Monster, as we know him better, like him, and possibly even love him. Perhaps, in a way, Milo could even be human, especially as a manifestation of Duncan.
Patrick Warburton (as Phil) in Bad Milo!
The ending of Bad Milo is unexpectedly poignant, but handled perfectly. I was saved from crying by just the perfect consolation. Yes! Any monster that brings you to tears couldn’t be all that bad…and couldn’t be all that much of a monster. As for the “consolation” that saved me from tears, you’ll need to see the movie for that. I wouldn’t dare spoil it. Otherwise, I might myself be the target of many a reader’s anally-spawned creatures of vengeance! But questions, there are many!
Townfolk with torches reminds us of another movie exploring who the monster really is.
Will Milo eliminate all stress from Duncan’s life? Will Duncan and Milo find a way to live together, as one happy symbiotic organism, helping and loving one another and everyone, harming no one? Will Duncan learn to manage his stress and make it all possible? Will Duncan and his wife finally have a child, and does the curse or blessing of a creature in the anus run in the family? Will Duncan finally spend less time on the toilet, and will Milo spend less time showing his teeth?
While I am normally reserved about recommending movies outright, I am making an exception here. Bad Milo is more than another movie you forget when it’s over. It’s much more, probably more than it should be. It’s funny, intelligent, exceptionally different, poignant and bittersweet. It’s one of the rare movies I remember, as I think again of those big, black eyes so lovingly blinking. With popcorn in one hand and tissues in the other, I say, Good Milo! Good Milo!
Rocket Rating – 8
Chris Rennirt is a movie critic and writer in Louisville, Kentucky, as well as editor in chief at Space Jockey Reviews. He has been a judge at many film festivals, including Macabre Faire Film Festival and Crimson Screen Film Fest, and he attends horror and sci-fi conventions often. Chris’ movie reviews, articles, and interviews appear in Effective Magazine and are published regularly on Space Jockey Reviews.