(from left) Cady (Violet McGraw), M3GAN and Gemma (Allison Williams) in M3GAN, directed by Gerard Johnstone. Photo Credit: Geoffrey Short/Universal Pictures. © 2022 UNIVERSAL STUDIOS. All Rights Reserved.
M3GAN slays (and dances) her way into camp slasher movie villain canon one spicy comeback at a time. Whenever she isn’t on screen, including during the movie’s setup, things don’t operate quite as well. But the second that M3GAN walks through the door dressed in a satin brown peacoat and enormous “here for the drama” sunglasses, the movie runs like a well-oiled robotic machine in a blonde lace front.
By the time M3GAN, a lifelike AI doll programmed to be a child’s greatest companion, sings her 9-year-old charge Cady (Violet McGraw) an acapella lullaby version of Sia’s “Titanium” (after swearing she didn’t kill anyone on Cady’s behalf) you’re either completely locked into the movie’s specific brand of black comedy camp or you’re boring. Just kidding. Kind of. But M3GAN, already a viral sensation, does beget a certain brand of weird to appreciate a sassy doll with a penchant for spicy comebacks, breaking into song and… well, murder. Like Child’s Play for the AI era.
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And just like Chucky (M3GAN vs Chucky movie when?), M3GAN gets plenty of mileage simply on the audaciousness of a child’s toy (albeit a toy that looks like Charlize Theron as Megyn Kelly) doing things a toy very much shouldn’t—like the aforementioned murder. Unlike Child’s Play—and it’s failed remake that attempts to update the story for the 21st century—M3GAN has an added layer of relevancy by exploring the ethics (and pure creepiness) of artificial intelligence and our overreliance on it. While Chucky (or Annabelle from The Conjuring franchise) are cursed dolls, M3GAN is created by us—specifically Gemma (Allison Williams), a roboticist and toy inventor. It creates a lore where our audacity is almost as unbelievable as M3GAN’s. We contributed to our own downfall.
It’s even more hilarious when you consider that Gemma, who has been toddling in her development of M3GAN (short for Model 3 Generative Android), was only able to finally finish building her when she became overwhelmed caring for her recently orphaned niece Cady (Violet McGraw). Trying to find a way out of actually parenting—and to impress her boss (Ronny Chieng) at the toy company she works at—she programs M3GAN to not only continually learn behaviors and evolve to help Cady, but also do anything to protect her physically and emotionally. Emotionally protecting a child who just witnessed her parents being killed in a car crash? What could possibly go wrong!?
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Once M3GAN starts disobeying Gemma’s commands (with sass!)—“Are you sure you want me to shut down?”—the scene for slasher history is set. Though there is a general lack of inventive kills that is a bit disappointing, the movie’s horror is more derived from an AI becoming uncontrollable rather than the actual physical danger she poses. If anything, M3GAN’s greatest shortcoming is that the human characters aren’t nearly as entertaining as she is—ironic if you think about it. Whenever she isn’t on screen, including during the movie’s setup, things don’t operate quite as well. But the second that M3GAN walks through the door of Gemma’s home dressed in her satin brown peacoat, the movie runs like a well-oiled robotic machine in a blonde lace front.
M3GAN became an instant gay twitter phenomenon for two reasons: gays love powerful women (human or otherwise) and gays love camp. The second we saw a ridiculous-looking lifelike doll doing a tight 8-count before going to murder someone we were hooked. However, the key to camp that few people acknowledge is intention. For camp to work, a movie’s tone has to be somewhat sincere. And what is more sincere than a deadpan AI fulfilling its programming—even if its methods are a bit uncouth? I guess what I’m trying to say is *in my best Roxie voice* the name on everybody’s lips is gonna be… M3GAN!
Hey! I’m Karl. You can find me on Twitter here. I’m also a Tomatometer-approved critic.
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