Have you ever watched a movie where you could see every plot point coming, but it didn’t matter because the performances by the lead actors were so compelling that you stuck with it? Such is the case with director and co-writer Kyle Hausmann-Stokes’ “My Dead Friend Zoe” (Universal).
“Inspired by a true story” about Hausmann-Stokes’ two platoonmates, “My Dead Friend Zoe” begins during the war in Afghanistan in 2016. Soldiers Zoe (out actor and filmmaker Natalie Morales) and Merit (Sonequa Martin-Green) have become inseparable friends in a war zone. The scenes with these two characters during this period are told in flashbacks.
In the present-day sequences, Merit is struggling with Zoe’s death. So much so that Zoe is a presence in her daily life. For example, when Merit attends a court-ordered support group, Zoe is nearby, wisecracking about the other attendees who are veterans. Merit attends the group, run by Dr. Cole (Morgan Freeman), because she was charged with “criminal negligence” after she dropped a forklift load of TV sets, almost crushing a co-worker at her job. Merit refuses to show up and participate, which means that Cole can’t sign off on the “Group Therapy Services Reporting Form” from the VA, and that could result in her being at the mercy of the court, where she could be fined or jailed.
Further complicating matters are her relationships with her mother Kris (Gloria Reuben) and her Vietnam vet grandfather, Dale (Ed Harris). Kris has asked Merit to look after widower Dale, who lives alone in a cabin in the Oregon countryside, after he was found wandering and appeared to be lost. A doctor even goes so far as to diagnose him with early-stage Alzheimer’s.
“My Dead Friend Zoe” alternates between scenes from the past in Afghanistan and the present in Oregon. The presence of Zoe in Merit’s life (as well as in the movie) adds comic relief to what otherwise would be a heavy story. The pair’s interactions in the war zone do a respectable job of illustrating their bond as both friends and soldiers, especially in the mostly male platoon. There is also a degree of levity in the post-war scenes with Zoe, but the mystery of what actually happened to her lingers like a specter throughout.
One ray of light in Merit’s life is Alex (Utkarsh Ambudkar, of “Ghosts” fame), whose family owns the Shady Acres facility in which Kris wants to relocate Dale for his own safety. But we soon realize that Merit, who is constantly flashing back to her time with Zoe in Afghanistan, is in no position to begin any kind of new relationship. By the time the source of Merit’s Zoe-related trauma is revealed (one of the few surprises in the movie), some audience members may feel like they’ve been through the wringer.
The always dependable Morales delivers the goods here. The same can also be said for Martin-Green, Ambudkar, and of course, Freeman. On the other hand, Harris continues to gnaw at the scenery, virtually chomping whole pieces of it. Poor Reuben is stuck playing another dour character for whom it is difficult to have any empathy.
Rating: B
