Movies about unicorns have a certain fantastical nature to them, so it makes sense that Death of a Unicorn adopts such a mentality – albeit with a serious case of nastiness and surprising class commentary.
A blackly comic creature feature with an evident love for the back catalogue of Steven Spielberg and James Cameron – E.T., Jurassic Park and Aliens are all referenced here in some capacity – writer/director Alex Scharfman eats the rich, takes down the pharmaceutical scene, and indulges in a twisted sense of humour as father-daughter pairing Elliot and Ridley Kintner (Paul Rudd and Jenna Ortega) accidentally hit the mythical titular creature as they drive through the Canadian Rockies on their way to an important business trip.
Well, it’s an important trip for Elliot, with the attitude-aplenty Ridley merely along for the ride, seemingly there to prop up Elliot as the loving, single father his employers believe he is; it’s not that that isn’t true – Elliot is indeed widowed – but he’s certainly more business-minded than Ridley would care for. The plan for Elliot is to get through the weekend with the Leopold family, who own one of the world’s biggest pharmaceutical companies, nab the promotion he’s been promised, and then he and Ridley are financially set for their future.
Already a stressful situation to play happy family, Elliot and Ridley arrive to the Leopold estate in a right state, having collided with a unicorn on their drive, then bludgeoned it to presumed death in a panic, before hiding it in their trunk, with the intent of dealing with it after their weekend.
Easier said than done, of course.
The Leopold family – which consists of ailing patriarch Odell (Richard E. Grant), philanthropic matriarch Belinda (Téa Leoni, an absolute treat to see flexing her comedic vapidity once again on screen), and their spoiled son, Shepard (Will Poulter, who practically walks away as the film’s snarky MVP) – swarm the far more modest Elliot and Ridley with a detachment that speaks to their impossible wealth. Their vulture-like temperament is even further enhanced by the realisation that the aforementioned unicorn – which they don’t take too long to come around to, in terms of acceptance – has healing minerals within its blood and horn shavings; Ridley’s acne and Elliot’s eye sight the first to test this theory, before, understandably, Odell offers himself up as a guinea pig and injects the unicorn’s properties into his bloodstream to cure his cancer.
Given how morally bankrupt the Leopolds are, we already know their greed will get the better of them in how much they abuse the unicorn’s enhancements, which, in turn, only endears us to the creatures themselves when they exact their revenge. There’s some mythology peppered throughout to give enough exposition, but we ultimately don’t really need it as so much of the fun of the film is that it leans into its own silliness, embracing its Jurassic Park-like structure and maintaining a laugh-out-loud sense of humour; the zero self-awareness of the Leopolds, and how perfectly they are embodied by Grant, Leoni and Poulter, truly livening up proceedings.
The zaniness of it all might not land with everyone watching, but with a title such as Death of a Unicorn you can’t exactly be surprised that it adheres to bloody chaos and comedic lunacy. It’s emotional enough without seeping into the saccharine and, in these current times, a movie devoted to the wealthy getting their comeuppance feels like an automatic win; and, if nothing else, it gifts us Will Poulter, adorned in above-the-knee-cut-off-shorts, snorting unicorn horn as if it were hard drugs, which is practically worth the price of admission alone.
THREE AND A HALF STARS (OUT OF FIVE)
Death of a Unicorn is screening in Australian theatres from April 10th, 2025, following special advance screenings on March 28th. Death of a Unicorn will be released in the United States on March 28th, 2025.
