M3GAN Review – ***½

To say that M3GAN is the best film of 2023 so far sounds like damning with faint praise, and it’s hard to imagine it will remain very high on my list even six months from now, but it’s certainly much better than you’d expect for a January release – and perhaps even better than you’d expect based on the ads, which didn’t quite do justice to the film’s clever balance of self-aware comedy and sincerely executed horror. But if the strong reviews and the laughter I heard at my screening are any indication, the word-of-mouth will be strong enough to ensure M3GAN is tidily profitable (which begs the question of what they’d title a sequel – M4GAN?).

Gemma (Alison Williams) is a designer at Funki, a toy company best known for their hilariously creepy PurrPetual Petz (they’re like Furbys with human teeth). Her boss, David (Ronny Chieng) is pressuring her and her team to develop a cheaper version of the Petz to outsell their competitors, but Gemma has something else in mind – something more humanoid. After her sister and brother-in-law are killed in accident, Gemma must take care of her young niece Cady (Violet McGraw), and her lack of maternal instincts quickly becomes apparent.

Then an idea hits, and she rapidly finishes the prototype for her new project, named M3GAN (Model 3 Generative ANdroid) (performed by Amie Donald, voiced by Jenna Davis), a doll with nearly-human mobility and learning capabilities. Cady adores her, and David is impressed, ordering Gemma to prepare for a large-scale launch of this new toy that’ll change everything (and earn Funki $10,000 a pop). But problems start to arise as M3GAN grows more and more intelligent, but recognizes no morality higher than protecting Cady – even if it means murder.

To be sure, M3GAN treads little new ground. The premise of technology outgrowing our ability to control it is far from novel and the actual development of the story is relatively predictable; the third act, for better or worse, seems poised to take the step into higher levels of mayhem but opts for a more intimate, character-driven climax – which might be just as well.

But what it does, it does very well. The use of humor is particularly impressive because it manages to be genuinely funny throughout (one of the biggest laughs at my screening came from a moment so tossed off you might miss it) without cheapening the scare factor. Not that M3GAN is likely to keep you up at night, but it embraces the unsettling nature of M3GAN’s uncanny-valley appearance and chirpily robotic voice, while also getting some mileage out of the all-too-relatable struggles of a traumatized child having to rely on an adult who’s hardly equipped for the task.

Williams, who was fantastic as the seemingly supportive girlfriend in Get Out, is solid here, showing how Gemma is struggling to navigate her emotional journey with Cady while also confronting the growing possibility that M3GAN is not just a physical threat in of herself, but a psychological threat to Cady and to the children who’ll depend on her more than their own parents. McGraw gives a nicely realistic performance as Cady, who’s believably sullen between losing her parents and gaining a reluctant new guardian, and just as believable in her growing bond with M3GAN – especially when it grows too close.

And of course, M3GAN is a collective triumph, between Donald’s unsettling physical performance (including the now-famous random dance scene), Davis’ voice, by turns sweet and smugly sinister, and the makeup effects by Adrien Morot and Kathy Tse, which make her look like someone put Elizabeth Olsen’s face on Annabelle. But then, credit must also go to Akela Cooper’s neatly managed script, which skewers the vapidity of the toy industry as well as the follies of its own characters.

It’s fairly well directed by Gerard Johnstone – not brilliantly so, but quite well enough to add to the whole satisfying package that is this film. PG-13 horror is never a safe bet, but M3GAN manages to achieve its goals with relatively little blood or language, and you’re not likely to miss them. You’ll probably be too busy laughing.

Score: 77