Elsie Fisher has the weirdest typecasting of Gen-Z teens: Her face is often pimple-covered. It’s appropriate in “Eighth Grade,” my favorite movie of 2018, but it’s out of place in the supposed horror-comedy “My Best Friend’s Exorcism.” This Amazon Prime film from director Damon Thomas and writer Jenna Lamia (working from a lauded YA novel by Grady Hendrix) tries to serve many masters and pleases none.
Real teen drama against a false backdrop
It’s not scary and it’s not funny – always bad news for a horror-comedy. Lamia mostly writes “MBFE” as a teen drama (although it’s not filmed that way). Abby is sensitive about her face, which she covers in makeup, not fooling the bullies. Gretchen (Amiah Miller) is her supportive bestie who turns mean and conniving upon being possessed by a demon.
Rounding out the quintet of 1988 teens are closeted gay Glee (Cathy Ang), weight-obsessed Margaret (Rachel Ogechi Kanu) and Margaret’s horndog placeholder boyfriend Wallace (Clayton Johnson). They are underclassmen at a religious high school. I want to credit “MBFE” for not making these teens fresh-scrubbed and cute, but if this is a broad comedy, they should be fresh-scrubbed and cute.
“My Best Friend’s Exorcism” (2022)
Director: Damon Thomas
Writers: Jenna Lamia, based on a novel by Grady Hendrix
Stars: Elsie Fisher, Amiah Miller, Rachel Ogechi Kanu
Since “Stranger Things,” Eighties Movie is now its own genre, and “MBFE” hits the tropes with its hairspray, TV dinners, Culture Club obsessions and the openness with which gay kids are taunted.
Composer Ryland Blackinton gives us a moody synthesizer score to complement needle-drops from A-Ha and Tiffany. It doesn’t happen often enough, but Lamia sometimes writes solid bits of Eighties Teen Speak. Glee says she’s allergic to peanuts; Wallace taunts “You’re allergic to penis?”
The teen drama is real enough, but it’s undercut by a light tone that promises comedy but rarely delivers. Here’s an example of the flat tone: Gretchen uses the classroom’s garbage can as a toilet when her teacher refuses her request to use the bathroom. It’s surprising, but it’s staged so that we realize Gretchen is possessed, rather than for a laugh.
The comedy gets exorcised
I knew from the start “MBFE” wouldn’t be scary, and that’s OK for a comedy – except that it spends too long on traditional horror sequences, like the titular exorcism. Lamia doesn’t parody exorcism films or find cheeky metaphors for teen trauma. It’s a straightforward tied-to-the-bed exorcism, just with a colorful palette instead of dark shadows.
Poor “Veronica Mars” veteran Christopher Lowell is thrown to the critical wolves when asked to save the climactic sequence. He enters in the final act as amateur exorcist Christian Lemon, who is also a Christian bodybuilder, motivational speaker and yogurt lover.
Lowell is not Jim Carrey or Chris Farley; he can’t create humor without writing to back him up. And while I didn’t love the other three teens, I did resent that Christian takes their place in the movie. Wallace disappears with little comment. Glee bows out when Chekhov’s Peanut Allergy reappears. Margaret exits with an admittedly memorable CGI gross-out scene involving a tapeworm.
As good as Fisher is, Abby’s trauma about having pimples doesn’t have weight compared to Gretchen’s possession, Margaret’s tapeworm and Glee’s hospitalization. Yet Gretchen’s possession is comedically toned, so it feels stupid next to plausible teen stresses like zits.
“My Best Friend’s Exorcism” is a high-concept movie that flattens upon landing. The good news is it’s forgettable; you won’t need to exorcise it from your memory.