My Dead Friend Zoe, 2025.
Directed by Kyle Hausmann-Stokes.
Starring Sonequa Martin-Green, Natalie Morales, Ed Harris, Morgan Freeman, Utkarsh Ambudkar, Gloria Reuben, Rich Paul, Del Lewis, James Bane, Assia Lau’ren, Alicia Borja, Thom Tran, Richard Milanesi, Zeke Alton, and John-Peter Cruz.
SYNOPSIS:
Engaged in a mysterious relationship with her dead best friend from the Army, a female Afghanistan veteran comes head to head with her Vietnam vet grandfather at the family’s ancestral lake house.
At a PTSD group therapy session for veterans, Natalie Morales’ Zoe springs out of her seat and starts making light of everyone’s pain while her friend Merit (Sonequa Martin-Green) struggles to open up about service time trauma. No one pays attention to Zoe since, and you may have deduced this already from the title: she is dead. In My Dead Friend Zoe, Zoe is a figment of Merit’s imagination, seemingly popping up anywhere and everywhere to keep her memory alive in Merit’s subconscious, motivate her best friend through an isolated, difficult time, and, in some cases, get confrontational regarding the fact that their friendship was fracturing on their last deployment to Afghanistan as U.S. Army mechanics.
Co-written and directed by Kyle Hausmann-Stokes (who served in the U.S. Army, although this film appears to be inspired by stories of other veterans, not to mention an extension of his short film featuring some of the same characters), conceiving the story alongside Cherish Chen and attracting several executive producers most notably including Kansas City Chiefs superstar and Taylor Swift’s partner Travis Kelce, this is a premise that initially borders on insensitively grating and, for a brief minute, had me fearing that the filmmaker accomplished the impossible in making Natalie Morales annoying. Those fears were quickly eased.
The tone of that early PTSD group therapy scene might confound more than pull viewers in, but as the film begins elaborating on what Merit is going through personally and within her family while also fleshing out what her friendship was like with Zoe – which also comes with flashbacks to their time servicing together – the drama becomes enveloping and the “pay attention to me” interjections from Zoe also start serving a purpose beyond giving grief a comedic touch. It’s also not jingoistic, as these women of color question their roles in America and the military.
However, the story primarily sticks with something more relatable and universal, a friendship possibly reaching the end of the road. Merit plans to attend university, but Zoe doesn’t know her direction. Her only option appears to be enlisting again. In the meantime, she reminds Merit of her more privileged status with a loving family and options. Merit acknowledges this while pushing Zoe to be more ambitious, explaining that friendships evolve and reassuring her that they will always remain in contact. Interspersed throughout some of Merit’s stressful, PTSD-triggering moments are glimpses heavily implying that something disastrous happened when this snowballed into a heated argument.
In between trying to heal and find the courage to open up to Morgan Freeman’s Dr. Cole in one of the previously mentioned PTSD group therapy sessions, Merit is told by her mom as played by Gloria Reuben (another fraught relationship) to head over to their ancestral lake house where grandfather Dale (Ed Harris) lives; he is entering the initial stages of Alzheimer’s and can no longer be left alone unsupervised as he apparently wanders off and gets lost (it mostly seems like a contrivance to bring the characters interacting since, for the most part, his cognitive functions are fine from then on.) Merit is to look after him until an arrangement can be finalized for him to be taken into an assisted living facility. And because this film is loaded with story and characters, Utkarsh Ambudkar’s Alex runs that facility and becomes an unnecessary love interest to Merit. However, he is an undeniably charming presence, per usual.
As for grandfather Dale, he is a Vietnam War veteran, which is why Merit wanted to join. This is yet another strained relationship, but also one with bottled-up feelings. It’s also one brimming with respect and unspoken love underneath. For the most part, Dale is a cranky curmudgeon with six different trash cans, each designated for a specific type of trash (a funny running joke involves Merit and dead Zoe trying to memorize and keep track of this strict looniness). Still, in some ways, he is also everything to Merit, who has fond memories of traditional Fourth of July celebrations where he would stand up and be shown respect when it was time for the band to pay tribute to the Army. There are also deeper conversations touching upon how different the wars they thought were, how they were treated upon return, and what mental health resources were available (an aspect one wishes the film dived into more.)
It should go without saying that this is an outstanding ensemble that gives the material authentic emotional weight. From a breakout internally tormented performance by Sonequa Martin-Green to Natalie Morales challenging herself and finding trickier situations to elicit laughs, to a layered turn from Ed Harris switching between anger and tenderness, to the perfect casting of Morgan Freeman as a soft-spoken and kindhearted doctor supporting fellow traumatized war veterans, the ensemble here is a special one that capably offset the occasional tonal frustration or screenplay weaknesses (co-written by A.J. Bermudez.)
My Dead Friend Zoe also has a surprise in store that re-contextualizes aspects of our perceptions of the leads while making a gut-wrenching point about veterans. The chemistry between the friends is abundant and complex (prepare for Rihanna’s Umbrella to play on a loop in your head after this), elevating a devastating, powerful message.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★ ★
Robert Kojder is a member of the Chicago Film Critics Association, Critics Choice Association, and Online Film Critics Society. He is also the Flickering Myth Reviews Editor. Check here for new reviews and follow my BlueSky or Letterboxd
