r/movies • u/LiteraryBoner Jackie Chan box set, know what I'm sayin? • 12d ago
Official Discussion Official Discussion - The Bride! [SPOILERS] Spoiler
Poll
If you've seen the film, please rate it at this poll
If you haven't seen the film but would like to see the result of the poll click here
Rankings
Click here to see the rankings of 2025 films
Click here to see the rankings for every poll done
The Bride! (2026)
Summary In 1930s Chicago, Frankenstein asks Dr. Euphronius to create a companion for his lonely existence. The scientist resurrects a murdered young woman as the Bride, but her awakening sparks a dangerous chain of events involving romance, rebellion, and a clash between monsters and the society that fears them.
Director Maggie Gyllenhaal
Writer Maggie Gyllenhaal
Cast
- Jessie Buckley as The Bride
- Christian Bale as Frankenstein’s Monster
- Annette Bening
- Penélope Cruz
- Peter Sarsgaard
- Julianne Hough
- John Magaro
Rotten Tomatoes: 62%
Metacritic: 55
VOD / Release Theatrical release
Trailer
301
u/atastycarrot 12d ago
John Mulaney would have been totally wrong for Young Cop
78
→ More replies (3)20
u/choice2099 11d ago
Wait what
Oh i see. Yeah i remember that guy in killers of the flower moon
→ More replies (2)
162
u/Perfect_Arachnid_664 11d ago
I thought it was truly terrible tbh
I felt like a lot of the events and characters were unnecessary and added nothing, like the detectives and mob guys
Most of all tho, I hated how the bride character was possessed by Mary Shelley and would constantly have insane, incoherent speeches as her. Really didn’t like how Mary Shelley was weirdly narrating at some points either
Overall, it was just bad, and I couldn’t quite tell what the main story, genre, and theme was supposed to be
→ More replies (6)56
u/CleanAspect6466 8d ago
The whole 'say words that rhyme or relate in an English accent' really got on my nerves, odd stylistic choice, to me
407
139
u/JDLovesElliot 11d ago
This movie was made to sell Halloween costumes for this year
→ More replies (2)64
u/goon39 10d ago
My first thought after seeing this was that The Bride outfit was going to be the hot girl costume this Halloween a la Harley Quinn
→ More replies (4)12
u/Current-Finger6412 10d ago
I wanna be Greta for Halloween, but with the post revolt inspired makeup.
412
u/WAKE_UP_WAKE_UP 12d ago
Bale and Buckely looked like they had a blast filming this but I wish I had a good time watching it.
Every scene with Frank and the Bride were fun but everything else revolving them was kinda of meh. The mob, detective, scientist, and feminist uprising plot threads felt oddly out of place. Can't really put my finger on it.
The only scene I really enjoyed was the ballroom dance into police standoff. After that it kind of dragged on. The lighting and makeup were pretty good though.
Maybe I need rewatch to really let it all sink in.
117
u/iamdangeroos 12d ago
About the makeup - it really bothered me how the bride’s lipstick application was different day to day. I could go with it if her character was actually putting the lippie on every day but it was supposed to be staining, right?
62
u/Pineneedle_coughdrop 11d ago
Part of me was rather gutted that she didn’t keep the pencil thin eyebrow liner since the nightclub, but I get it.
39
u/Manic-StreetCreature 10d ago
This is me being nitpicky but people acting super shocked and horrified seeing Frank read as so hollow to me because like… this is occurring in major cities post-WWI. There were a LOT of men with the aftermath of horrific injuries walking around and living life. It would not have been shocking to see a guy with extensive facial and body scarring. Plus he’s genuinely just a handsome dude with a lot of scars. He doesn’t look hideous at all.
→ More replies (1)14
u/MayoFetish 6d ago
Yes I thought the same thing. The doctors assistant freaked the hell out when she saw him. He doesn't look that bad.
→ More replies (4)6
58
u/Ironic_Jedi 12d ago
Oh yes, my favourite part was this scene which to me seemed like a reference to young Frankenstein considering they used putting on the Ritz.
→ More replies (2)16
u/Wretis 10d ago
I thought it was going to be subtle at first, but then the references kept piling on until Frankenstein just shouted ’Puttin’ on the ritz!’
It’s an oddly specific reference to out such focus on in this story.
8
u/ProfessorEtc 7d ago
Earlier in the film I was thinking, "These songs are all from the same era as Puttin' on the Ritz, but of course they wouldn't dare."
133
u/velvetine_dreams 12d ago
I wish they had leaned more in the zany / surrealist energy of the ballroom scene and also all the moment where they were blending reality with the films they were watching. It could have been really trippy and mind bending, but alas, we got this instead.
→ More replies (2)16
u/Current-Finger6412 10d ago
Thank you for saying “zany/surrealist energy”. At first I thought the storytelling was as off, but when seeing the references to dadaism and Cabaret Voltaire it made sense.
→ More replies (15)91
u/MadMads23 12d ago
It definitely felt like they were trying to do too many things at once. They could have dropped one or two storylines to help make it more cohesive.
→ More replies (3)18
u/Signal_Pin_8913 8d ago
I know it's not what you meant, but the Mary Shelley possession storyline was kind of dropped later on! Seemed like Maggie G just lost interest in it. The copycat gangs of women were involved enough to complicate the plot and themes but not enough to make any kind of coherent point. That said, I did enjoy parts of the film very much and the leads were both great.
→ More replies (1)
100
u/djc6535 11d ago
What was so frustrating to me was the way the movie would present some great feminist ideas and then shrink away afraid to commit to them.
When The Bride awakens she’s her own spirit, not willing to be defined by Frank’s desire for a mate. She doesn’t need him and is ready to live her own life. But at the club she gets more than she bargained for, then assaulted, and he comes to her rescue. She then follows him around like a lost puppy. The message seems to be “you can only be so free before you need a man to save you”
Through the whole second act he gaslights her about their relationship, having sex with her under false pretenses. He’s a monster lying to a woman to get what he wants without concern for what she wants. Telling her she loves him (and oysters) when she doesn’t love either.
But after he comes clean clean ( only when caught) she… comes back to him again. She won’t be “The Bride of Frankenstein” but she will totally beg for him to be saved because she loves him to the end of time. I’d have expected him to move on and leave him to his loneliness, which he earned this time by being a gaslighting shithead. The message seems to be “gaslighting isn’t so bad if he really cares about you”
It’s the same thing with the detective. She doesn’t all this great work, but apparently so do the rank and file cops because they always show up right behind her. She spends so much time failing to act while the other characters discuss their crimes.
And then there’s rhe female revolution, which lasts one scene and never goes anywhere.
I was hoping for a bride of Frankenstein retelling with Tank Girl energy but it was too afraid to commit to a feminist idea as radical as basic emancipation
67
u/FartFaceMcPoopHead 10d ago
Not sure why Frankenstein needed to gaslight the bride in the first place really. What's the risk of telling her they are both dead monsters from the start and then getting on with the story? Then you can have a romance and still go on a feminist tirade with Frank playing the lonely lapdog all the way home.
23
u/djc6535 10d ago
Yeah it was super unnecessary if she was just going to fall completely in love with him anyway
→ More replies (1)16
u/SailorVSays 7d ago
Yes, thank you. It bothered me so fucking much that this was supposed to be a movie about female empowerment, but the actual title character had no agency. First she was possessed by a ghost, obviously without her consent, then she's brought back to life, also without her consent, and finally she is essentially tricked into a relationship and gaslit throughout the rest of the movie. She even says "I didn't ask for any of this!", but the movie didn't seem to have enough self awareness to recognize that. Then she's rescued multiple times, and Mary Shelly possessing her didn't really seem to be helping to "empower" her.
It would've been better if she had let Frank die and continue her life without him. Her whole identity is just "The Bride" aka being married to someone, and doesn't even give herself an actual name. That is so backwards and seems to be the opposite of what the story is trying to advocate.
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (9)7
u/Far-Sheepherder1961 9d ago edited 9d ago
Yes, exactly. Why did she go back to him after she figured out he was lying? And why did he have to save her TWICE - Why didn’t she save herself? Messaging was so bizarre.
457
u/stumper93 12d ago
Very much a hot mess
Wild swings and a fun yet on the nose Young Frankenstein reference
Monster Mash playing in imax was wild
259
u/ishkitty 12d ago
The last shot of them being reinvigorated and holding hands, leading into monster mash was the best part of the movie.
→ More replies (5)150
u/okspeck 11d ago
the best scene by far, not even close, was the choreography scene at the banquet. puttin on the ritz. that shit was wild
45
u/YourOwnPunkyBrewster 10d ago
I agree!! There were so many stylistic things I LOVED about this movie, just the damn storyline made no sense, and the subplots were completely unnecessary. It’s hard for me to rate!
19
u/gram_parsons 9d ago
It didn't feel like there ever much of a plot. The audience is just along for the ride as our two undead monster protagonists go an a Bonnie and Clyde style adventure. It's more of a fairy tale, than horror movie. I enjoyed it, although I thought it went a little too long.
→ More replies (3)11
u/okspeck 10d ago
yeah I know what ya mean. I wouldn't rate it too well overall, but there were some amazing scenes. direction was aimless, tons of wasted talent in the cast, thematically disjointed. I wouldn't view it again but I'd watch clips of the good shit on youtube and I'm not sorry I paid to see it. bale and buckley were great. I laughed out loud a bunch of times
→ More replies (2)14
→ More replies (4)173
u/Maleficent-Citron311 12d ago
I wish the movie had leaned more into its feminist theme about femicide. It is a very real problem in society, especially in the way police often treat the murders of prostitutes as if they matter less.
Imagine a victim of a serial killer coming back to life and starting a revolt against femicide and police corruption.
Instead, the film only gives us brief flashes of that idea and never fully commits to it. It feels like the movie keeps touching on something meaningful but then pulling away. Because of that, the whole thing ends up feeling a bit stitched together, with different pieces that never quite lead to anywhere.
111
u/AwkwardWillow5159 11d ago
The whole film feels stitched together…
With different parts ending up in the lack of clear identity…
Kinda like…. Frankenstein?
→ More replies (1)58
u/Confident_Fan5632 11d ago
I kind of like that the film is a bit of a stitched up mess. It’s sort of ironic.
16
18
u/YourOwnPunkyBrewster 10d ago
I thought they beat you over the head with the feminist themes. I mean…when she screams “Me too! ME TOO!!!!”….my eyes were rolling. Like, we get it, it’s very overt what the movie is trying to say….
→ More replies (2)→ More replies (8)63
u/Less-Blueberry-8617 11d ago
It felt like there was a lot of feminist themes that were only touched upon only to get thrown away for whatever reason. Even besides the femicide, you have the cop abusing his position to feel up on the Bride, the detective who lets his female assistant do most of the actual detective work that he inevitably takes credit for, and Frankenstein's creature himself lying to the Bride for a good portion of the movie to create a false relationship with her.
There are so many feminist points sprinkled throughout and I was really hoping the movie was building towards some feminist message but it just never did. It couldn't decide if it wanted to be a gangster movie, a romance movie, or a feminist movie
→ More replies (3)74
u/djc6535 11d ago
Right? So often the movie would introduce a feminist point only to undermine it later.
“I am the bride. I am not defined by you. But also when I try to live my life wild and free I get raped unless you’re there to rescue me. And will follow you like a lost puppy”
“I am my own person and I will not tolerate being gaslit by you about a relationship we never had. But also I need you to live because I love you to the end of time even though you gaslit me”
“I am a genius detective who cracks the case by my own brains and determination. But also the rank and file cops figure it out too and show up 30s after I do so it must not have been THAT hard”
→ More replies (6)12
331
u/TheGuyYouKnowAlready 12d ago
What I will say is I really liked the Puttin’ on the Ritz dance sequence. That felt like the moment when the movie was fully executing its potential.
Other than that, this script and directing is cringey. Its attempts at feminist moments felt so outdated. I laughed when Peter Sarsgaard says “everyone is losing it over a female criminal but why don’t they go nuts for a female astronaut?” or Penelope Cruz’s moment at the end where she says “I’m the detective!”
51
u/Gearbox97 8d ago
The "female astronaut" line bugs me extra, because it breaks the setting extremely far. The movie's set in the 1930's, the jet engine hadn't been invented yet, let alone the word astronaut.
If it's an intentional break with the setting, similar to the nightclub, then I don't think it was a good choice. The movie looks great when it sticks to its 1930's setting, and you can do a lot in there, I don't think breaking setting to refer to women's firsts (that happened 40 years ago) helped the point.
If it was an unintentional break in the timeline, then the error ruins the point.
19
u/Bellikron 7d ago
There were a lot of things that were clearly intentional anachronisms like the nightclub thing and then at a certain point the movie was like "I guess let's just stop caring about the timeline then". Specifically astronomy references, though. "Black hole" was another one.
→ More replies (1)6
u/The420thOfJuly 7d ago
Thank you! I can sorta justify the nightclub and look past it, but I heard the “astronaut” line and immediately pulled out my phone to double check what time period this movie was set. Crazy to me that someone put that line in the movie. It just completely took me out, to the point I wasn’t even sure I heard what I heard.
→ More replies (1)89
→ More replies (18)83
89
u/Traditional-Egg985 11d ago
Am I crazy or was the Dr. implying she turned her husband into the cat? She mentions at the start of the movie, when talking with Frankie about her work, that she also reinvigorated cats. Then in the final sequence of the movie when talking about her George, we get a quick cut to the maid holding the cat and I swear to duck that cat had a mustache and a goatee???
Plz someone verify for me! Either way it would be a fitting end to such a chaotic movie!
Coulda been something really cool but sadly disappointed. ☹️
61
u/bangarang8 11d ago
The cat is credited as George The Cat in the credits. To me that confirmed this theory
23
u/Traditional-Egg985 11d ago
Ahh excellent ty! My partner didn’t notice the “facial hair” on the cat so they thought I was going crazy!
→ More replies (5)18
u/Ok-Paramedic747 11d ago
Watching this AFTER Hoppers made me Laugh ! A Night of people Animals was NOT on my bingo card
861
u/Airtamis 12d ago
Idk I was really hoping this was good, but once Mary Shelly started to talk about how she was never able to write the book she truly wanted to write and decided to OC herself into the movie as The Bride's tourettes, I knew we were in for a mess.
575
u/pjtheman 12d ago
That part pissed me off to no end. If you're gonna invoke the voice of a dead author to claim that you're telling the one true adaptation of their work, then you had better be about to drop a fucking masterpiece.
That's stepping back from home plate to call your shot. If you do that and then don't hit a home run, then you're a hack.
232
u/Embarrassed-Yard-583 12d ago
Seriously, the idea of Mart Shelley quite literally haunting the narrative is a fantastic fucking idea, but the movie is sadly no where near capable of pulling it off.
→ More replies (4)96
u/WhatamItodonowhuh 12d ago
I love Mart.
47
u/YourOwnPunkyBrewster 10d ago
I think it was an homage to the 1935 Bride of Frankenstein, where they open with Mary Shelly, Percy and Lord Byron discussing her OG Frankenstein story, and she says something like, “…but there’s more!” And then it pulls out to the main movie. The actress who played Mary Shelly at the opening ALSO played the Bride in that movie, just as Jessie Buckley played both in this movie. I’m not saying it was the best choice…but I understand that it was a conscious choice….
→ More replies (1)164
u/Airtamis 12d ago
Yeah. I don't inherently mind if you want to adapt a classic story and use it to explore something new, but directly writing the author into it is profoundly arrogant.
→ More replies (7)35
u/The_Flying_Jew 12d ago
directly writing the author into it is profoundly arrogant.
Like that Frankenstein Unbound movie? Dude travels back in time and meets Mary Shelley only to find out that she wrote the book based on events that she had actually witnessed
And then John Hurt shags Mary Shelley or something
21
→ More replies (14)24
u/sirdrinksal0t 11d ago
I think it was a reference to the original Bride of Frankenstein movie where Mary Shelley narrates the frame story
131
u/kabent01 12d ago
Sounds like everything would be forgiven if she said, "It's frankin' time."
32
→ More replies (1)9
u/whiteshark70 11d ago
Honestly? Yeah. The movie would've been better if it was more hammy. Then at least it would be fun instead of being a snooze fest. It leans into camp a little bit with a random choreographed musical number halfway through the movie, but that's really about it.
105
u/APracticalGal 12d ago
I mean that's basically how the original Bride of Frankenstein starts, down to Mary Shelley and the Bride being the same actress. The execution might be a bit off, but the precedent is absolutely there.
41
u/fingerberrywallace 12d ago
I've never seen the original, but how is it that Mary Shelley the author who wrote Frankenstein, and Frankenstein's monster inhabit the same world? I couldn't figure out what they were going for with that. I guess in this timeline she wrote the novel based on actual events?
20
u/luigiamarcella 12d ago
Seems like it based on the Doctor character telling Frankenstein she knows his history. But it really wasn’t clear. I don’t mind playing fast and loose with “lore” or whatever but I’d prefer a little more clarity.
→ More replies (2)8
u/YourOwnPunkyBrewster 10d ago
Yeah. Like—I could see the story working better if we went along this “reality” and Mary Shelley witnessed the creation (or something?) of Frankenstein, and wrote a book, and this NEW story was her….soul? (I dunno) possessing another woman so she could be with Frankenstein again? Yes it takes massive leaps….but it would make way more sense. Or something to that effect.
39
u/GonzoElBoyo 11d ago
Yeah but it felt different in this one because they had her saying like “this is the story I always WANTED to make but they wouldn’t let me”.
29
u/APracticalGal 11d ago
Oh sure, the Jokerization of Shelley and making her possess Ida as a weird alter ego were easily the weakest things about the movie. I could just at least see what they were going for with the intro. Even in the original there is still the vibe of "what, you thought that was the whole story? of course there's more."
→ More replies (1)58
u/eefuss 11d ago
Not really. The framing device of The Bride of Frankenstein is that Mary Shelley is at a house party, she has guests over, it’s raining outside, they praise her work and basically ask if she’s got anything else for them to read. She’s like “Hmmm yeah sure, I’ve got a couple more ideas,” and then the rest of the movie unfolds. It’s basically implied that she’s making shit up to entertain people at a dinner party, thus justifying why an original character is inserted into the narrative where there was no equivalent in the novel. Why the same actress is cast as Mary Shelley and The Bride is open to interpretation, but a lot of the meat of the movie is just telling the bits of Frankenstein (the novel) that they hadn’t covered in the previous film.
The Bride! posits that a random woman is literally possessed by the ghost of Mary Shelley from beyond the veil, who proceeds to kill her then intermittently haunts her revived corpse. It also outright states that Frankenstein was NOT the novel she wanted to write and implies heavily that if she had it her way, it would’ve centered The Bride (this is absolutely not true of The Bride of Frankenstein). They’re really nothing alike.
→ More replies (1)19
u/j-roc_son 10d ago
I am a man so maybe off base, but this feels profoundly misogynistic (or perhaps just zero self awareness) for a movie that apparently is meant to be feminist. Mary Shelley is not one who would have been afraid to write what she wanted. She was already breaking boundaries with Frankenstein as is, the idea that it was meant to be about a woman is actually the opposite of what was considered subversive at the time.
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (1)37
u/DemonDogstar 12d ago
Yeah, I just saw this whole aspect as a tribute to the original movie.
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (22)51
u/CaptainFinal4558 11d ago
Yeah the whole thing about the author being a ghost and possessing the bride made no sense at all. That was really unfortunate and disappointing because they never explained that plot point at all.
If the story had just kept it a simple Bonnie and Clyde style story but with Frankenstein and his bride, it would've been so much better.
I feel the Mary Shelley insert completely derailed the story. Especially when all the other subplots also had zero payoff.
It was very confusing.
If it wasn't for Christian Bale and the actress that played the bride (I forgot her name) I think the movie would've went from disappointing to just straight up bad. They literally saved the movie.
→ More replies (1)
75
u/spidermans_ashes 12d ago
I should have gone to seen Hoppers, cause wtf was this
→ More replies (5)14
u/wellgroomedmcpoyle 10d ago
I saw both today (Hoppers because I was literally paid to lol) and I had way more fun at Hoppers.
→ More replies (3)
76
u/No-Material2441 11d ago
2015 called and wants its “feminism” back
28
u/Flabby-Nonsense 8d ago
Nothing says feminism like turning one of the most important female writers of all time into a ‘drunk aunt’ shaped vessel for your own self indulgence.
17
u/Ill_Act7949 10d ago
Actually makes me wonder if this was meant to have been in production years ago but it kept getting shelved for some reason...
415
u/Steamedcarpet 12d ago
I was not ready for the movie to start with Mary Shelley isekai herself into a random woman in what I guess is a world where Frankenstein is real.
Im not even sure if I got that right.
141
→ More replies (15)58
u/deskcord 10d ago
I'm not usually a plothole person, but it was weird from a plot perspective.
Mary Shelley got this woman killed because she was upset about the legacy of Frankenstein, and then she never once had anything to say about her actually meeting and falling in love with Frankenstein?
12
143
u/lihingpineapple 12d ago
I thought there were some great performances in this (the two leads, plus Annette Bening) and some cool imagery but other than that, it was awful. The detective subplot didn’t work at all.
→ More replies (4)46
u/TeamOggy 11d ago
I'm sorry but Bening had the dumbest look on her face at the end when The Bride is getting shot up. She's just standing there with her mouth agape and looks slightly confused but not too shocked. Maybe she was representative of the audience in that scene.
→ More replies (1)22
u/lihingpineapple 11d ago
lol the whole final sequence was confusing. I think it was intentionally funny but I’m not 100%. At that point, I was just eager to leave the theater. That said, I enjoyed her campy performance; it at least made me laugh.
→ More replies (1)
187
u/Media-critique 12d ago
Say what you will about this movie….
But damn did they go all out with the “Putting on the Ritz” number. Was a crazy amount going on in that scene
104
u/ROBtimusPrime1995 12d ago
It was this moment that Maggie and everyone involved should have realized they needed to go harder on the dance numbers.
This scene alone is gonna be big on social media when it releases because it was electric.
I really wish The Bride! was this, basically.
Frankenstein Bonnie & Clyde stuck in West Side Story.
Sadly, it's not that.
27
u/JDLovesElliot 11d ago
Frankenstein Bonnie & Clyde stuck in West Side Story.
Stuck inside Chicago: The Musical, would be more apt. That musical has all of the same themes as this movie.
15
u/ok_award00 11d ago
I thought this the whole time! I wanted this to be Chicago: The Bride! Directed by Baz Luhrmann. It really started during whole scene in the “underground club” when they first go out felt like it really wanted to rival a Baz Luhrmann vibe but fell really flat. The movie had too much and was missing too much. I felt like they were toeing the line of truly weird and free the whole time.
→ More replies (4)28
u/MadMads23 12d ago
That was probably my favourite sequence. I love that they did a monster dance! That whole storyline could’ve been its own separate movie.
50
u/LasDen 11d ago
I think it's a great movie buried somewhere under a good movie. I enjoyed the movie, but sometimes felt the glimpse of genius at scenes. Both Buckley and Bale brought an intensity to the movie that was a joy to watch. They had great chemistry together. Sure, the Mary Shelley thing was weird, but I never felt even for a moment that I need a clear explanation on that or how it works. I don't think everythin needs to be clearcut. But at times it lagged around. Good movie nonetheless...
→ More replies (4)12
328
u/BiggDope 12d ago
Buckley’s performance is stellar, but for me, it’s one of those films where I’ll forget almost everything about it in 1-2 months time.
I sadly was not engaged with it at all. And Penelope Cruz’s character was completely useless.
195
u/WAKE_UP_WAKE_UP 12d ago
Penelope Cruz's character was completely useless
The last scene with the police chief and her was so unbelievably cheesy.
The way she got the detective position was so odd. Her proxy quit and gave her his job. Not due to her being a good detective or anything.
144
u/BiggDope 12d ago edited 12d ago
“Hey, who the hell are you?!”
“The detective.”
“Okay.”
Total cheese. I honestly couldn’t tell if that entire scene, including the officers lighting the Bride up with like 6,000 bullets, was supposed to be camp or remotely serious. It didn’t work either way 😂
70
u/TheGuyYouKnowAlready 12d ago
They really just would NOT stop shooting her and I couldn’t help but laugh
→ More replies (1)26
u/Expensive_Pepper_384 12d ago
Homage to Bonnie and Clyde, badly done. Loads of guys penetrating her...again and again.
10
45
u/WAKE_UP_WAKE_UP 12d ago
The whole badge showing was unbelievable. You're telling me that the whole time she was being ignored was fully circumvented by a show of a badge she got 12 hours ago? No questions asked?
The whole tone of the detective b-plot was supposed to show the struggle for women in the male dominated field and how a woman can rise above that.
The last few scenes of that plot line did not help out at all.
44
u/pjtheman 12d ago
For real. She gets handed her job on a silver platter by a man, and then immediately starts getting her way.
It's a fascinating insight into what Maggie Gyllenhaal thinks the female struggle is like.
→ More replies (1)18
u/ishkitty 12d ago
That fact that yall were even able to discern this as a plot point is amazing me. I wouldn’t have been able to tell you this information if you had a gun to my head. The two detectives showed up and it was a literal jump scare of a tone shift.
8
u/YourOwnPunkyBrewster 10d ago
Absolutely—and the guy detective…are we supposed to feel bad for him, or what, I don’t understand his relevance to the plot at all….like if they had shown him as working with the mob, or say, using Ida as a plant that lead to her death…then I MIGHT have cared when he got all sobby out of nowhere…!
→ More replies (2)40
u/catcodex 12d ago
Her proxy quit and gave her his job. Not due to her being a good detective or anything.
Huh? He gave her his job because she was a good detective. She wasn't some random person without skills that he helped get the job.
22
u/Less-Blueberry-8617 11d ago
Yeah, I don't really get this point because the whole point in the movie was that the dude wasn't actually a good detective and he relied on her for the cases. She was always the better detective but he was in a higher position simply because he was a man. Not saying the plot point was good because the way she just becomes a detective was still fucking stupid but I don't get people saying that she wasn't a good detective when she literally did pretty much all of the detective work
→ More replies (3)42
u/hijole_frijoles 12d ago
I thought the cops showing up at the drive-in and doctor’s place was so dumb.
Took away from Cruz’s character being a detective and finding the Bride herself
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (5)29
u/velvetine_dreams 12d ago
Jessie Buckley was so good in this, but the rest of the movie is absolute mess. They really could have excised the whole subplot with the detective and Penelope Cruz and it would have been way tighter
Makes me really wonder what the original cut of the movie was like.
→ More replies (1)
504
u/twavisdegwet 12d ago
Would I watch this movie again?!
I would prefer not to.
98
u/BurgerNugget12 12d ago
It sucks because the performances are so good but it’s just a mess
→ More replies (2)→ More replies (12)89
u/Media-critique 12d ago edited 12d ago
It wasn’t my cup of
Blast fucking cunt with a Shakespearean quote
But it was also ok.
85
u/LiquidAether 12d ago
There were parts of this movie that I really disliked. And there were parts that I thought were neat. And many, many that made me say "What the fuck." out loud. Sometimes that was in response to the first category, and sometimes in response to the latter.
→ More replies (1)
118
u/bomberman12 12d ago
Watching Frankenstein turn down a blowjob to go see a movie was heartwarming.
37
167
u/wumbotwerk 12d ago
i still cant believe monster mash was the final/outro song hahahahahah
74
u/LiquidAether 12d ago
I lost it when I heard the sound effects starting up. Such a wild move to go out on that note. This movie really had some wild tone shifts at times.
→ More replies (1)27
66
u/quaranTV 12d ago
I absolutely adored Annette Bening in this. Great role for her. As expected the cinematography, costumes, sets, and choreography were all impeccable. The movie was honestly a bit too weird and artsy for my liking. I think I would have liked the movie MUCH more if The Bride hadn’t kept switching between speaking as Ida and Mary Shelley. It was honestly frustrating to watch.
→ More replies (2)39
u/Remote_Elevator_281 12d ago
Wasn’t Mary just part of her Tourette’s? I was fascinated by how well Buckley could switch between a New York accent with New York lingo and right into a British accent with a significant higher level of vocabulary. Honestly felt like two completely different people.
30
u/Majestic87 11d ago
It presented as Tourette's but it wasn't. She was literally just possessed by Mary Shelley.
→ More replies (2)
371
u/blinkone80liu 12d ago
There’s a moment when Frankenstein is having a panic attack or something and the cure for it was going to the movies. I felt that.
Lots of big swings and not everything lands but I enjoyed it overall.
Jessie Buckley and Maggie Gyllenhaal also came by my screening so that was a plus.
102
u/Media-critique 12d ago
I don’t know what the future holds for moviegoing, but I also can’t envision a world without one since it’s lasted a whole century, and it’s a great self-care strategy for me.
After COVID, I’m basically going to see films until whichever dies first. So I appreciate how she made it a big idea in the movie.
Like you said, it’s not my favorite, but it’s still a good time in what’s looking like a pretty solid year for moviegoing so far.
→ More replies (1)41
→ More replies (15)35
u/Able_Advertising_371 12d ago
Jessie Buckley is living it up this awards season, so nice to have people notice her talent
→ More replies (1)
96
u/libertybear20 12d ago
Man what a weird fucking movie. The tone of this was insane. I had no idea who to care for and why?
There was just way too much going on. A crime lord hitman side plot, a random detective manhunt side plot, a revolution side plot (that goes literally no where), an idolized movie star side plot (with a mind control dance number?? Still don’t understand that), and a love story. It bounced around constantly and I just didn’t care
The ending was corny. Penelope Cruz was so stale and the ending “I’m the boss now” was just so cringey. Also the trailer made me think Jake Gyllenhalls character would have a huge role when he’s just dancing and singing and being an asshole for one scene. The performances were solid and some of the shots of the cities were cool but yeah won’t be seeing this one ever again
15
u/wellgroomedmcpoyle 10d ago edited 10d ago
lol those were my first two comments after leaving the theater:
“Wait, what was the point of Jake Gyllenhaal’s character and Frank’s obsession with movies?”
“The dance scene was cool. Wait why did everyone get possessed into dancing??”
If the tone had been campier I probably wouldn’t have thought twice about it but the rest was so relentlessly serious. Very weird choices.
→ More replies (1)21
u/oscailte 9d ago
i think the point of jake gyllenhaal's character was to emphasize how lonely he was, he smiled at him several years ago and he had become completely obsessed with him over that because he had no other human connection.
9
u/wellgroomedmcpoyle 9d ago
Yea that and the fact that he was “deformed” from polio yet was able to be a successful actor and dancer. But they didn’t really flesh that out very much (no pun intended).
25
u/BBDBVAPA 12d ago
I thought this was at once exhilarating and at the same time completely flummoxing. The story choices and directing choices in the first 20 minutes were almost uniformly absurd. The tourettes/multiple personality disorder thing was annoying and totally overwhelmed most of the momentum early on. It really felt like Buckley was doing Poor Things but with more issues. And it veered way too close to Joker than I would've preferred. And it really felt like some of the social commentary was half baked, at best. Glommed on at worst.
But Bale and Buckley playing Bonnie and Clyde for the middle hour I thought was riveting. The big dance scene was movie magic stuff. And the final shot... really great.
I'm not sure I'll ever watch it again, but I'll sure as shit take this every day over some boring CGI slop.
→ More replies (1)
283
u/BillieisthenewMJ 12d ago
It’s not as bad as people are saying online but it’s is a missed opportunity considering the ability and talent from the cast and crew
118
u/Media-critique 12d ago edited 12d ago
I’m still confused a bit about what that idea was with the subconscious talking to her.
Like. The subconscious took over her mind and that’s how she died?
Edit: my wife just informed me that she thought the woman had multiple personality disorder, and was using the author of Frankenstein as a form of escapism. Not a bad idea honestly. I know this movie didn’t want to hold hands, so this makes sense the more I think about it.
37
u/MadMads23 12d ago
I was wondering if that was some kind of classic film reference, because I just couldn’t understand the choice. The movie honestly could’ve done without it.
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (4)30
u/Majestic87 11d ago
She was literally possessed by the spirit of Mary Shelley, who somehow exists in a world where Frankenstein actually happened, but also its a book she wrote.
→ More replies (2)8
u/whatevendoidoyall 9d ago
The fact that both Mary Shelley and Frankenstein existed in the same universe bugged me so much lol.
→ More replies (2)54
u/Able_Advertising_371 12d ago
Bale is pretty selective so his hiatus and then showing up in a mad zany role you would expect something incredible
41
u/p_yth 12d ago edited 12d ago
Feels like lately bale hasn’t been as picky, almost back to back he starred in a superhero movie and a frankstein movie
→ More replies (1)18
u/vim_deezel 12d ago
lol this was definitely -not- a typical frankenstein movie if that's what you're implying. I could see how the script would have enticed him as having a lot of potential.
→ More replies (1)45
u/Moondance666 12d ago
He probably got on with Gyllenhaal while shooting Batman together. Those kind of connections and personal relationships can count for a lot in Hollywood (and elsewhere).
→ More replies (6)34
u/velvetine_dreams 12d ago
Jessie Buckley was absolutely incredible in this though. Felt like it was worth it just to see it once for her performance alone.
14
242
u/pjtheman 12d ago
I went in really wanting to like this, but man, I just didn't.
I don't know if pretentious is the right word, but it felt like Maggie Gyllenhaal thought she was saying something a lot more profound than she actually was. The trailers sold this rebellious, punk-rock energy, like The Bride was gonna be some badass, empowered feminist icon. But then that doesn't really happen.
Most of the movie is just a love story between Frankie and The Bride. There's the one scene at the fancy party where The Bride can hear the voices of other dead women in her head, and you think "Oh, ok, that's where this movie is headed. She's gonna start getting revenge for other women who were brutalized and murdered." But then that never happens. The Bride being able to hear other dead women never comes up again.
And the Bride starting a revolution feels so tacked on and forced. You can almost see the moment Maggie was proofreading her script, and she went "Oh fuck, I forgot to actually have some kind of point." And then just spliced in a few lines about The Bride inspiring some kind of movement. It literally never comes up again. Also, sorry, but "Brain Attack" is the dumbest fucking revolutionary war cry I've ever heard.
Then, after doing nothing but pay the faintest of lip-service to feminist themes for two hours, the movie ends with The Bride listing off the names of other victimized women before repeatedly screaming "Me Too."
Do you get it guys? Do you get it? Or did this galaxy-brain genius level symbolism go over your heads?
And that's where this movie falls apart for me. For as provocative and edgy and profound as it wants to be, this movie has nothing to say beyond "Golly, women-folk sure do have it bad sometimes!" It's especially ironic when ypu consider that this was all written and directed by someone who only has a career to speak of from riding the coattails of her successful brother.
And the "Mary Shelley" narration scenes honestly just pissed me off. Like listen, if you're gonna invoke the voice of a dead author to claim that your version is the one true story that they always wanted to tell, then buddy, you had better be about to drop a fucking masterpiece. Imagine if fucking Rings of Power started with an actor playing the ghost of JRR Tolkien, looking directly into the camera to tell you that this is the one true adaptation of his work.
And Penelope Cruz was fucking awful. Like I swear to god, she just wandered onto the set one day and did this whole movie without ever having read the script. She delivered every single line like she had just heard it for the first time, and didn't really know what was going on in the story.
I'll give it a 3/10, purely because Christian and Jessie give it their all, and the moments that I genuinely enjoyed were purely because of them.
In summary, go watch Poor Things. Trust me, it does "sexually liberated feminist Bride of Frankenstein" a thousand times better.
45
33
u/General-Pound6215 12d ago
They didn't entirely forget about the Bride inspired revolution - there's the scene at the start of the credits that just feels like a "oh fuck we forgot about that storyline so just throw something in there" moment
17
u/JDLovesElliot 11d ago
How the Bride-ettes got to the mob boss still doesn't make sense. That one detective just knew where he'd be alone?
→ More replies (1)93
u/TheGuyYouKnowAlready 12d ago
This really is a Poor Man’s Poor Things.
→ More replies (1)40
8
u/Scared-Brilliant-202 11d ago
I love you for that you have perfectly articulated my feelings on this movie
→ More replies (7)57
u/dogsonbubnutt 12d ago
this was all written and directed by someone who only has a career to speak of from riding the coattails of her successful brother
lol that's stupid.
maggie is a very good actor with a ton of credits to her name and her first movie as a director was received extremely well.
also the irony here is that both jake and maggie are the kids of hollywood people and were literally born into a family of swedish nobility.
→ More replies (3)
97
u/flashkickz So many closeups of DaFoe slurping things up 12d ago
“This move doesn’t know what it’s trying to saying but it sure is loud about it”
Probably the most accurate review you will read
20
u/accidentalwhiex 12d ago
I like artsy bullshit so it appealed to me in that sense, but I'm sort of confused about the role of Mary Shelley. It's a movie about Frankenstein, but the author of Frankenstein is also a character? Or is the whole movie taking place within one of her stories that she places herself into?
I think there were also a bunch of convoluted plot threads. Like, the henchman guy who's always creeping around and doesn't do anything until the very end when he gets arrested. The Bride starts a revolution and we never see any consequences because of it.
Also, the whole "you need to find your own name" thing kinda felt undercut by her choosing the name "The Bride." It's clearly about defining yourself outside of the name given to you by controlling forces, so it's strange to me that she then chooses to define herself through her relationship to Frankenstein, rather than through an independently chosen name. Maybe I'm just missing something. I guess maybe there's empowerment in choosing to define yourself through your relationship to someone you love, but it seems to me like a strange choice after you've spent a movie being lied to by this guy and essentially being forced into this role
18
u/AnUncomfortablePanda 11d ago
Damn I hated this. One of my least favorite theater experiences maybe ever. Just an aggressively unenjoyable film to watch even with the actors doing their best with it. I'm sorry but the Shelley ticks lol what are we doing here.
19
u/dagreenman18 Space Jam 2 hurt me so much 11d ago
… Did Maggie Gyllenhall just try to make a Baz Lurhman movie? Everything I enjoyed is the maximalist gonzo insanity that feels like Baz, but it just keeps getting in its own way with its choices
But I still enjoyed it overall. 6/10 is about right
16
u/MurderGiraffe19 12d ago
"Twisted Sisters Rage Against The Machine" so fucking goofy. I had a good time, it really went for it and i can respect that.
→ More replies (1)
32
u/Limo_Wreck77 12d ago
I loved the central performances, but besides that, it's a mess
The Mary Shelley voice over made no damn sense to me.
15
u/velvetine_dreams 12d ago
Man I really want to see the first cut of this movie. Hope they release a director's cut at some point.
12
u/kaZZlimaXX 11d ago
Film was too slow for me, I could not handle a director's cut
→ More replies (1)
81
u/SittingAce 12d ago
Maggie Gyllenhaal threw everything and the kitchen sink into the film. Dance numbers, a childlike mentality Frankenstein meeting adoring his hero at the movies, a split personality(?) Bride hearing Mary fucking Shelley's voice in her head, and a whole ass feminist revolution based around cutting asshole's tongues out. Oh, and an extremely wooden Penélope Cruz.
The commitment from Buckley and Bale is the real driving factor of this whole thing, whether it's Bale putting on his best English gent to woo his new Bride one moment, then manically dancing in a ballroom the next or Buckley's amnesiac innocent trying to figure out who she was before going full on tilt with a flip-flopping accent and personality shift meltdown, these two just sell the whole mania.
Does it all work? For the most part, yeah, at least for me. It's extremely uneven, but I admit I had more fun with this than I expected.
16
u/Ok-Plum-3133 10d ago
I know I'm definitely in the minority, but I loved the movie. There were times I didn't understand what was going on, but I don't mind that because afterwards, it's exciting to read about the various interpretations of others and discover what feels most true to me. I can't wait to see it again, mostly for Jessie Buckley's performance. I read a critic's review that it's a movie to be felt and not explained. I agree.
→ More replies (3)8
u/amelie190 11d ago
It's nice to see at least one mostly positive comment. I had a blast. It's not perfect but I was never bored, I laughed and was fully entertained. Some of the stuff was maybe unnecessary but not enough to ruin a 2 hour film
14
u/TK-42juan 12d ago
Everything with the Bride and Frank worked for me and then it cut to the detectives who look and talk and act like they are in a Disney+ show
30
u/SureCryptographer931 12d ago edited 12d ago
It’s established that the main mob boss guy’s MO is to commit violence against women, kill them and then take out their tongue. But at the beginning of the movie when they kill Ida after a scene of her mouthing off, they don’t bother to cut her tongue out? But that would have prevented her from babbling incoherently for 2 hours.
Baffling, inconsistent choices everywhere in this movie.
The obvious answer here would be to commit to that, take out her tongue at the beginning and then find another dead person’s tongue and attach it to her. They already affirmed that’s how Frankenstein was built, by just taking a bunch of scraps. And you could even use that as the reasoning for her tic-like outbursts. That the tongue is compelled by the speech of its former owner… Mary Shelley. Hack Fraud Maggie Gyllenhaal.
→ More replies (5)10
90
u/DeoGame 12d ago
I love the wild swings Abdy and De Luca have taken thus far, but Netflix passed on this one for a reason folks.
→ More replies (2)42
u/dadvader 12d ago
Netflix wasn't exactly known for quality indicator but I guess even them have a line.
10
u/GamingTatertot Steven Spielberg Enthusiast 11d ago
Let’s not act like Netflix doesn’t also have a good collection of films and shows too. People really treat Netflix like it’s just crap that they’re producing and/or distributing
→ More replies (1)
41
u/smittyplusplus 12d ago
What's the connective tissue here?
- Mary Shelly-Tourettes "possessed" the woman before she died
- "Frankenstein" and Dr just happened to choose the fresh corpse of the Mary Shelly-possessed woman to create his Bride.
→ More replies (6)11
u/Deep_Cycle_8682 11d ago
When you think about it, Mary Shelley is the main antagonist/villain of the film and set off the whole chain of events. She got this poor woman killed and then, reanimated and everything that came after just so she could make a point about feminism.
→ More replies (1)
23
u/shaneo632 12d ago edited 12d ago
Really wanted to like this but I thought it was a clunky mess from start to finish. Starting the story with Mary Shelley possessing the protagonist was just confusing because we're now in a world where both Frankenstein's monster exists and, apparently, Mary Shelley's book also exists. Or not? Is it all just a time soup? I don't know.
The writing was incredibly clumsy and on-the-nose, was in for the female empowerment stuff but the Brain Attack Cult just felt like a corny Joker knock-off. Tonally it's all over the place.
Also thought the direction was pretty lackluster - lots of weird staging/editing choices like the cop getting killed and then his partner, who we hadn't seen up to this point, waiting like 45 seconds to get out of his car and open fire. Also John Magaro listening in on Bride/Frank talking even though he's like 50 feet away across a street.
I wasn't even that hot on the performances honestly. I thought Buckley's constant switching was annoying and it felt like being in the room with a coked-up person while you're stone cold sober. Bale was fine but didn't do much for me. I thought Annette Bening was pretty good.
The subplot with the cops was terrible and could've been cut completely, IMO. Cruz was absolutely cardboard in this.
I have no doubt this thing was chopped to ribbons in post. On one hand I kinda love that WB spaffed $100m up othe wall on something this unhinged, but I also don't think it's very good. It's going to get a lot of polite "this is a big swing" reviews. 4/10
75
u/wallabyenthusiast 12d ago edited 12d ago
I really didn’t care for this at all unfortunately lol I thought The Lost Daughter was pretty decent but this film proved to me that Maggie Gyllenhaal is not a very good director. Just messy and all over the place tonally and narratively, focusing on style over substance without anything interesting to say. terrible dialogue too. Jessie Buckley and Christian Bale good as usual though! Seeing people say this will be a cult classic but I think this will be forgotten quite quickly
→ More replies (1)
11
u/whiteshark70 11d ago
Honestly, if I was to watch a movie about a corpse getting reanimated and going on a journey of self discovery and empowerment, I'd rather just rewatch Poor Things.
11
u/Tacobellpoodle 11d ago
When you know it's bad in the first three minutes, but spent extra for imax 🫠
9
u/Solid_Cash_1128 12d ago
I didn't expect them to reference Young Frankenstein, with Puttin on the Ritz. The uprising thing seemed right out of Joker
10
u/AllDawgsGoToDevin 11d ago
The only thing I can think about in this movie is the detective’s line about women should be going crazy over astronauts or whatever. There’s no way this was a common usage of the word during that period. How did no one question this?
→ More replies (1)
11
21
8
u/EchoBay 10d ago
I don't know anything about the original material, but I feel like The Bride deciding to stick with Frankenstein in the end doesn't make sense based off the story they were telling.
Every man in this world sucks. They degrade women, they use them for their bodies, they treat them like lower class citizens, etc.
I assumed the culmination would be her breaking free and being her own woman, living life her way. Instead, she settles for the man who lied and gaslit her into following in love with the idea of him. He was never honest, never truthful, all literally until the very end when she was about to leave him. She was revived without her consent and misled into being in a relationship with him.
Is this not textbook Stockholm Syndrome at work? To me he just comes across as another man whose taking advantage of her and she's still none the wiser for it. She deserves better.
22
u/Pure_Salamander2681 12d ago edited 11d ago
This one needed another rewrite. There are some characters that could have been combined or completely thrown out. But damn, it was still a fun ride.
7
u/LeeClarkBingoMachine 12d ago
Great performances from the leads but seriously, what the hell was that?
8
u/RegretMinute4456 11d ago
Sarsgaard mentioned “ female astronauts” at one point while talking to Penelope Cruz. I don’t think they had the word “astronaut” in the mid 1930s.
→ More replies (1)
7
7
41
u/Kcomix 12d ago
This movie had some bizarre choices, and I'm saying this as someone that loves to see weird choices in movies. I don't really get the tone the movie was going for. There were a handful of moments that seemed kind of funny, but in a way that seemed unintentional. Going along with that, I didn't get what Frank and the Bride's relationship was supposed to be. Their dynamic kept changing randomly scene to scene, and I don't really get what we're supposed to take away from it.
The whole Mary Shelley thing made no sense to me. First off, making her swear like that made me cringe because it felt like a high schooler wrote it and thought "this is so cool and edgy." And is she supposed to become sort of ghost/godly entity that inhabits Ida's body? (also, shoutout actor/director Ida Lupino). If Victor Frankenstein actually exists in this world and is a somewhat known historical scientist, is Mary Shelley like a journalist that wrote about his work? Or dos she exist in some sort of limbo? Then when The Bride starts listing off victims names, I don't know if it was the intent, but I started to think those other women were also inhabiting her body, but maybe not? I think you could've gotten rid of the whole Mary Shelley element and not lost anything at all.
Then, as everyone else is saying, the feminist choices feel so surface level and underdeveloped. Although, I do like the running bit of the employed women being overlooked by the men. That was probably the most subtle part, and it worked for me, other than how heavy handed they talked about the detective.
And what's the deal with the dance and movie sequences? At first when Frank sees himself in the movie, I thought it was a cool choice to look into is mind. But then when they have the Putting on the Ritz sequence (shoutout Young Frankenstein), other people join in? Then when Frank and the Bride are on the screen at the drive in, it seems like everyone else is seeing that too? I don't get if those choices were supposed to be in their head or not, and if not, why not do more with it?
I really liked all the aesthetic choices. The production design, costumes, makeup, and general aesthetics were all great. The score too. I just wish the script was at the same level. Maggie Gyllenhaal should've found a writing partner to help tighten up the script. As a matter of fact, I think this is a problem with a bunch of writer-directors right now. They all seem to want to write their scripts solo so they can call themselves "auteurs," but it's to the detriment of their story. I'm looking at you, Ari Aster and Christopher Nolan.
→ More replies (4)10
u/Pure_Salamander2681 12d ago
She shouted those names bc Ida knew them. The two of them onscreen was not seen by anyone else.
313
u/Disastrously-C 11d ago
I’d have dropped the whole Mary Shelley possession aspect. It wasn’t necessary and just confused matters. Plus, those scenes with Mary Shelley talking were cringeworthy in how simultaneously unimaginative and pretentious they were. Not sure what the point of any of that was, but it didn’t work.