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Everyone handles their grief in different ways—some of those ways healthier than others. And in My Dead Friend Zoe, an Afghanistan veteran refuses to deal with her grief over the loss of her best friend—and, as a result, her grief ends up following her wherever she goes.
My Dead Friend Zoe follows Army veteran Merit (Sonequa Martin-Green) as she struggles with her grief over the loss of her friend, Zoe (Natalie Morales). Wherever she goes, Zoe is there—usually with a totally inappropriate remark. But while her VA group counselor, Dr. Cole (Morgan Freeman), tries to get her to open up about her pain, she just can’t seem to talk about it. It isn’t until she’s sent to her family’s lake house to help her stubborn Vietnam veteran grandfather (Ed Harris) that she begins to connect with her feelings.
While Merit may try to keep living her life, she’s failing miserably. She lives alone, she doesn’t have any friends, and she refuses to speak during her court-ordered group therapy sessions. Since she avoids her mother’s calls, she has no one to talk to but the memory of her strong, rebellious, wise-cracking best friend. And though their friendship was obviously a close one—one that gives the film plenty of lighthearted moments—it’s clearly not the same as having a relationship with a real, living person.
But Merit’s trip to help her ornery grandfather brings about a turning point for the character—and the comedy gives way to more drama. The visit forces Merit to confront some powerful memories—from her childhood visits to the lake house to her grandfather’s pride in his military service to her own memories of conversations with her best friend as they served together in the desert. Eventually, she realizes that she’ll be stuck forever in a murky, grief-filled swamp until she finds the courage to talk about her experiences. And what starts out as a lovably quirky dark comedy about a young woman and her dead friend eventually becomes an honest and highly emotional story about grief and trauma and the struggles of the returning soldier.
My Dead Friend Zoe may seem like an easygoing dramedy, but appearances can be deceiving. It won’t take long for viewers to fall in love with these troubled characters and get caught up in their story. And while it has plenty of lighthearted moments, it hits hard in the end.
You can follow Merit and Zoe through their journey when My Dead Friend Zoe arrives in theaters on February 28, 2025.
Listen to the review on Reel Discovery:
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