Review of The Weirdo

The Weirdo tells the story of Donny, a simple young man mistreated by almost everyone but his aunt. He finds love and happiness with a slightly crippled lass named Jenny, but you just know things aren't going to turn out all sunshine and good times. Though broadly a horror film, and certainly drawing on classic genre themes and situations, much of The Weirdo is occupied by brooding drama, heavy on dialogue as Milligan piles up his dysfunctional concerns. Lots of typical Milligan stuff seems to be there, a loathsome priest, an even more loathsome mother, retarded people and constant mean spirited behaviour from most of the characters, the film is an essay in casual grinding cruelty, innocent simplicity slowly broken down till mad and murderous climax, an avalanche of deliriously inept slaying packing quite the punch. The climatic shenanigans I pretty much expected, what took me rather by surprise in the film though was how moving it is. The writing seems really to care about Donny and Jenny, they are in a terribly sad situation and the film never seems to be exploiting them. The small, committed cast and unfussy direction help out here, although the film has an everytown setting and the action moves around a number of different places it always feels claustrophobic, this gives it a sense of inevitability, that Donny will be wronged for no good reason wherever he turns. There's a sincerity and compassion here that really works despite the oddity and comically broad touches like the abundance of slapping, happily this feeling is backed up by some decent acting. Steve Burington does good, sympathetic work as Donny, slow and seemingly simple, pitiable rather than pathetic and with an edge of menace. In fact throughout the film I kept being reminded of some or other similar if not near identical turn in a different movie, just out of reach of my recollection. Jessica Strauss is sweet, childlike but lovable as Jenny and her relationship with Donny comes off as unforced and natural as such a set up was ever likely to be. Sure it's a bit of a fairy tale, but they work well together and are rather touching. Naomi Sherwood is Donny's aunt and comes across a nice enough old gal, doing her best in a situation she never asked for and probably didn't ever want. The rest of the cast is basically just a set of hateful meanies, caricatures but delivered with gusto, with a shout out due to Lyn Caryl, doing great malign work as Donny's near unfeasibly spiteful mother. The ending of this one probably would have been better with a less schlocky approach and the film is ultimately a bit formulaic, but I had a rather fine time with it on the whole. Not by any means a great film and probably not even a "good" film in the conventional sense, this is still worth a look for Milligan fans and 80's oddity addicts I think.