There is something about vacation days that make me watch movies. I think it's the fact that I don't have to go to work the next day makes me stay up late, which results in watching movies I might never had bothered with.
One night (morning?), IFC aired the movie May (2002, I know, I'm behind) sandwiched in between airings of House of 1000 Corpses. Based on that and on its generic and somewhat vague on screen description, I expected a gore fest. Instead, I got a horror movie that I truly believe should be shown to all tweens and teens (and lots of adults) as a guide to how not to date.
The movie's title character, May, is a socially inept oddball with a mad collection of dolls and a need to find love. She meets pseudo-quirky Adam and love blooms. Adam eventually sees that May is a bit crazy and slowly (very slowly) backs off. May quickly finds solace by giving into oversexed coworker Polly's advances. Unfortunately, Polly isn't a one woman girl and May is disappointed by love yet again. May then decides to take matters into her hands, quite literally, and makes her own perfect companion. Spoiler: she hacks up a few people and stitches them together to make a new friend.
Angela Bettis plays May to a possible career long pigeon holing perfection. You end the film really believing she is May. At times, she makes you feel sorry for her, yet in the next scene, you are down right disgusted. She creates an almost loveable unhinged lunatic, reminiscent to Anthony Perkins' Norman Bates.
Her main love interest Adam (Jeremy Sisto) is a fairly interesting character. He is apparently into the sick and deranged, evident by his collections odds and ends and his cheesy indie film he shows May on an early date. Yet when he is faced with the real thing embodied by May, he eventually runs off. He very slowly runs. Even after it is obvious to him that he is dealing with crazy on another level, he gives May a few more chances when he could have avoided a whole lot of drama by changing his phone number and leaving town.
It is a fairly original idea and the characters are somewhat believable, but the film has some drawbacks. The cinematography is not consistent. Most annoying are the dated bursts of grainy shots (think video for NIN's "Closer"). Surprisingly for the plot, the violence is fast and in no means gory. The schlockiness more resembles '80s bad horror and at times comes off as not realistic and unintentionally laughable. Goofy yet annoying lesbian-stereotype Polly (Anna Faris) is given some corny dialogue that attempts foreshadowing. The end of the movie is disappointingly predictable.
The movie borders good and bad, pushing it to the realm of cult status. Underneath it all, it has a good morale. Girls, take it as a guide to not be obsessively looking for love. Guys, take it as a guide that if a girl acts like this on the first date, run. Note to all: there is no such thing as a perfect partner (in real life).
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