Tupperware containers filled with human entrails, an evil talking cat with a Scottish accent and some kicky dance numbers – put it all together and you have one extremely off-kilter dark comedy.
Directed by Marjane Satrapi (Persepolis) The Voices might be best thought of as Psycho if it were a rom-com from the perspective of Norman Bates.
Ryan Reynolds is Jerry, an outwardly good-natured factory worker whose best friends just happen to be an evil Scottish cat, and an ever-forgiving pooch who constantly tells Jerry he’s a “good boy, good boy”.
They are part of the weird alternate universe Jerry occupies, also filled with garish candy colours and surreal song-and-dance numbers. But when psychiatrist (Jackie Weaver) urges him to go back on his medication, his world begins to change – and it becomes clear that Jerry and his furry friends might not be that cute after all.
The best black comedies marry a morbid premise, and a protagonist you enjoy watching, despite or because of, their flaws.
Jerry’s victims are garishly drawn. Gemma Arterton’s English rose says things like, “Ooh scrummy, God save the Queen”, while colleague-next-door Anna Kendrick is All American sweetness and light. Reynolds, for his part, is surprisingly likeable as a serial killer. But the movie is tonally inconsistent and its blend of kitsch and gore feels forced.