The directorial debut from Brie Larson, streaming on Netflix, is a millennial fever dream full of candy colors and glitter.
The premise of Netflix’s Unicorn Store is surprisingly more literal than you might first think. Samuel L. Jackson, gleefully adorned with glitter streamers in his hair, plays a character named The Salesman in a seemingly mythical, imaginary place called The Store. What does the Salesman sell here at The Store? Unicorns. Literally, he sells unicorns.
Brie Larson plays a grown-up woman — or trying her best to be — named Kit who just got kicked out of art school because, for reasons unclear, apparently her professor didn’t like her splattering the gallery wall with rainbow glitter during her exhibit. We cut to her in the same position on the couch all day, snacking on Pop Tarts, with her lively go-getter parents begrudgingly trying to motivate her.
Played by Joan Cusack and Bradley Whitford, they round out a rather stacked cast, and I’m sure the movie being able to wrangle such talent comes from Larson’s clout here as first-time director. The script comes from Samantha McIntyre, who’s credited with having written episodes of FX’s Married.
Kit tries her best to pick herself back up and decides to take a temp job at an advertising agency, which is the complete opposite of her aesthetic. This place is neutral tones and grays, and she drops her candy-colored wardrobe to fit the part and dress accordingly. While there, she gets — at first innocent and then rather unwanted — interest from the vice president of the company, Gary, played by Hamish Linklater in a perfectly deadpan and creepy role.
And while the intrigue of climbing the corporate ladder presents itself, Kit is more interested in the mysterious invitation that arrives on her desk to attend The Store. She decides to go, and that’s where she meets The Salesman, who tells her a unicorn who will love her forever is awaiting her if she follows all the required steps to prepare to house the unicorn. Kit, of course, is ecstatic.
This is what she’s always wanted. Feeling unsupported by her parents, Kit as a young girl withdrew into the imaginary and always fantasized about the mythical unicorn. As an adult, she still hasn’t gotten past those childlike desires. So when this opportunity presents itself, she embraces it fully.
The Marvel connection is worth noting with the reunion of Samuel L. Jackson and Brie Larson, who played Nick Storm and Captain Marvel just last month in Captain Marvel. Their chemistry remains vibrant and warm, and the best scenes are them together. Similarly, Kit meets kind hardware store employee Virgil, played by Mamoudou Athie, who exudes charm and is a standout among the cast.
Larson has never been a truly emotive performer, and so seeing her try to be giddy with childlike wonder, especially during a vacuum presentation bursting with lights and glitter and energy, is a bit of a strain. Regardless, Larson as a director shows promise, although this is a bit of an odd debut. Unicorn Store ultimately only survives on its surface-level pleasures.
The timely message of trying to stay true to yourself while still growing up somehow here feels dated in its language, and that might simply be due to this project being so long in development. The script could’ve used some updating and polishing because it wobbles in tone and never really digs into the message it’s trying so hard to sell.
Credit goes to Larson, whose directorial efforts really all go toward holding this thing together. Without strong direction, it could’ve been a lot worse than it is. Every performance is solid to great, but unfortunately the script forces Larson’s hand to explore the less interesting aspects of the story. And perhaps most grating are the final moments of the movie, where Kit’s unabashed energy and vibrancy toward life actually end up being pretty much diminished.
For Unicorn Store, a movie that questions whether an adult coming of age has to sacrifice a part of who they are in order to grow up and fit in with the rest of the world, the answer that it comes up with is a bit of a letdown.