This weekend, rather than rewatching New Girl a hundred times while browsing through TikTok, I respectfully urge you watch Darby and the Dead, a new movie that will be available on Hulu tomorrow (December 2). In the midst of the Oscar race and the holiday movie frenzy, this spooky adolescent comedy risks being overlooked. But I’m here to tell you that Darby in the Dead is fantastic, so you shouldn’t miss it.
This teen comedy, directed by Silas Howard and written by Wenonah Wilms and Becca Greene, is on par with critical triumphs like Booksmart and Mean Girls, the latter of which is obviously a huge inspiration. Darby and the Dead adds a supernatural element to the tragedies of high school female drama: the heroine Darby Harper (played with sarcastic flair by Riele Downs) sees the dead. Or, as she calls them, “deados.”
You see, Darby nearly drowned as a youngster. Her mother died on that day, but Darby returned to life with the capacity to communicate with spirits. Taking inspiration from The Sixth Sense, Darby utilizes her abilities to assist the deceased in completing any unfinished business so they can “go on” to the afterlife. Typically, this entails communicating with surviving loved ones. But when the most popular cheerleader in school, Capri (Auli’i Cravalho), dies in a tragic hair-straightener electrocution accident, all she asks is for Darby to help her reschedule her seventeenth birthday celebration. It was supposed to be the party of the year, and Capri does not want anything as trivial as her death to ruin it. And to further complicate matters, Darby and Capri were once best friends. You know, before Darby’s mother passed away and she began dressing all black and conversing with spirits and whatnot.
The seeming simplicity of Darby and the Dead’s writing is the source of its brilliance. The high-concept premise might have easily resulted in a complicated, superfluous storyline, but every move makes perfect sense. Capri killed by hair straightener; she was vain as hell! She died by electrocution, thus it is only natural that she now possesses extra-powerful ghost electricity abilities. It’s the type of “obvious” writing that every writer knows is actually complex and difficult to create, but provides for a smooth and effortless reading experience.
It helps that the cast is exceptional. Auli’i Cravalho excels as the Generation Z counterpart of Regina George. Many still recognize Cravalho as the sweet-faced Disney princess who provided the voice for Moana, so it is delightful to see her slay as the shallow, popular mean girl. She is a gifted comedy performer with impeccable timing. I roared with laughter when Darby admitted to Capri that it was difficult growing up speaking to the dead, and Cravalho responded without hesitation, “Okay, and?” We’ve all got baggage!”
With a Black protagonist, Black love interest, and Black background actors, Darby and the Dead makes a concerted effort to make its city public school student body look like a city public school student body, despite its imperfections.
Mean Girls, despite its continued cultural relevance, is painfully out of date. (Remember “unfriendly Black hotties?”) This teen film formula was due for an update, and Darby and the Dead did not disappoint. You shouldn’t sleep on this one.
»This Weekend’s Most Intelligent Film Is ‘Darby and the Dead.’«