Bad Milo! is the kind of film that David Cronenberg would make if he was into body comedy, not body horror. Bad Milo! is The Brood if it had a sense of humor. Bad Milo! stars Ken Marino, one of my secret favorites, and is about a man that discovers that similar to the Hulk, when he gets stressed out, a monster emerges. If you don’t mind scatological humor, you will not stop laughing while watching Bad Milo! I actually rewound and rewatched a few scenes because it was so funny.
Bad Milo! is really a movie that examines male identity crisis and tackles the anxiety of being a man, a father, a worker and a provider. Bad Milo! is also about confronting the past and discarding the legacy of biology while simultaneously facing and embracing one’s biological reality. Bad Milo! tackles male vulnerability by making the butt, a man’s most vulnerable part of his anatomy because it is often seen as analogous to a vagina, the focal point of the film. (Side note: I think the eye is the most vulnerable point of any portion of the body because it is always exposed and used, but that is my perspective.) Bad Milo! balances the literal and metaphoric in a hilarious fashion.
Bad Milo! is also about our vulnerable economic place in the world. The awful boss says, “You gotta take a dump on your enemies or else you’re the one eating the shit sandwich.” Little does the boss know that the main character’s super power or curse is taking dumps. Bad Milo! acknowledges that business is often not a meritocracy, but is an immoral zero sum game fraught with victimization and manipulation. As a reward for his hard work or obedience, Bad Milo! shows the main character’s reward: he is literally placed in the outhouse, i.e. in the bathroom, and forced to share it with an incompetent, but friendly colleague. There is no distinction among quality of workers. Hard work will not save you. The only time that the main character in Bad Milo! consciously acts offensively can also be seen as an act of self-defense against a system that constantly threatens his ability to live. Ultimately the system punishes no one, and he is somehow rewarded for his transgression.
Bad Milo! has an amazing cast. Peter Stormare is brilliant as the crazy theraprist who has real beef with his parrot. Mary Kay Place and Kumail Nanjiani are perfect as Marino’s on screen mother and stepfather. I have always enjoyed what Gillian Jacobs brings to any role since Community. Stephen Root as Marino’s on screen father brings the implicit weight of his pivotal and iconic role in Office Space. Patrick Warburton IS the worst boss. Tisha French lends a credible realism to Bad Milo! as the black woman who probably knows what is really going on in her office, including the mythological shenanigans, and handles it with professional aplomb.
I loved Bad Milo! for embracing the absurdity and somehow keeping it funny while tackling some serious subjects.