Categorize this one as ‘it’s so bad it’s good. The End of Oak Street is a chaotic ride that’s worth the price of admission. David Robert Mitchell’s film (It Follows, The Myth of the American Sleepover) is a creature feature that masks dark comedy with horror and suspense. It’s a recipe that I usually don’t like, but this one hit differently. It has crazy-high Rotten Tomatoes critics (86%) and audience (76%) scores. Its 6.2 IMDB rating feels a little more realistic for what this film is.

The End of Oak Street feels like a modern-day Jurassic World meets War of the Worlds meets A Quiet Place. It borrows elements from those films and many others, such as The Mist, Signs, War of the Worlds, Super 8, and District 9. It gives the early vibes and really digs into the idea that it could be the best dinosaur movie since Jurassic Park. I was engrossed by the preview and, perhaps, too easily influenced by the Rotten Tomatoes scores. Long story short, this wasn’t the best dinosaur movie since Jurassic Park.

Given the direction the film took, the character build-up felt unnecessary. Nevertheless, at its inception, this story was different, and learning about the characters and their dynamics felt important. With actors such as Anne Hathaway (Love & Other Drugs, Rachel Getting Married) and Ewan McGregor (The Impossible, Trainspotting), you’d expect, at least, some character development. Denise (Hathaway), an aspiring novelist, and Greg (McGregor), who recently lost his job but hasn’t told his wife, work as an evening pizza driver to earn extra money.

Together, they raise their high school-aged daughter, Audrey (Maisy Stella), and their middle school-aged son, Brian (Christian Convery), both of whom know their relationship is fractured. Audrey is into academics. Brian is getting bullied at school. The family’s dog is always getting loose and digging up their grumpy neighbor’s yard. We learn early that none of this matters. It doesn’t advance the story or enrich the characters. It’s a whole lot of nothing, resulting in a “Who cares?” audience mentality.

We are a little too far into this brisk 90-minute film before the action starts. But once it starts, it doesn’t stop. One day, dinosaurs begin to envelop the community, quickly eating up neighbors as the family watches through the slits in the wood of their boarded-up house, or as they attempt to drive away, only for all roads leading out of their neighborhood to have been blocked off with debris (wrecked cars, fallen trees, massive pavement cracks, etc.). Once we got into it and realized this film wasn’t what I wanted, I could relax and have fun. The silly situations and just-in-time escapes became an enjoyable part of the ride.

The ambiance is neat. There are some cool chase sequences. The CGI wasn’t great, but it made the ride even more fun. Once you throw out believability, the cornier the movie gets, the more I enjoyed it. It all felt part of Mitchell’s consciousness. Is The End of Oak Street a horror? A comedy? A drama? Science fiction? Action? Yes. It’s all of that and then some. One criticism is that, while some scenes were meant to make the audience laugh, others had the same effect by accident. Mitchell throws out the rulebook and doesn’t apologize. And somehow the movie is better off for it.

The best part of the film is Hathaway. She carried the other actors, though I don’t know if that’s because she was so good or everyone else was so bad. In a film with a host of unmemorable characters making all sorts of bad decisions, Denise stands out. Unfortunately, as good as the aura was, it never felt that any of the actors were working without a green screen.

None of the film makes sense. If you want it to make sense, or even try to, you’ll be highly disappointed. Instead, The End of Oak Street is a lot of cheese. But it’s the tasty kind. It won’t be the movie you hope it is, but you’ll leave entertained. Fun and satisfying, but unmemorable.

Plot 7.5/10
Character Development 8/10
Character Chemistry 7/10
Acting 7/10
Screenplay 8.5/10
Directing 8.5/10
Cinematography 8/10
Sound 10/10
Hook and Reel 10/10
Universal Relevance 7.5/10
82%

B-

Movies You Might Like If You Liked This Movie

• War of the Worlds
• The Mist
• Jurassic Park
• A Quiet Place
• The Mist