This weekend instead of checking new girl For the hundredth time as I scroll through TikTok, I humbly suggest you get in touch Darby and the deada new movie is coming Hi tomorrow (December 2nd). In all the Oscar racing and Christmas movie madness, this little supernatural teen comedy is in danger of slipping through the cracks. But I’m here to report it Darby in the dead is excellent and you don’t want to miss it.
Directed by Silas Howard, with a screenplay by Wenonah Wilms and Becca Greene, this whip-smart teen comedy is on par with critical acclaim like book smart and mean girls, the latter clearly exerting a major influence. But as the title says, Darby and the dead adds a supernatural twist to the horrors of high school girl drama: protagonist Darby Harper (played by Riele Downs with witty aplomb) sees dead people. Or “deados”, as she calls them.
As a child, Darby almost drowned. Her mother died that day, but Darby came back to life with a newfound ability to talk to spirits. borrow from The sixth Sense, Darby uses her powers to help the dead with unfinished business so they can “move on” to the other side. Usually this involves passing a message on to the bereaved. But when the school’s favorite cheerleader, Capri (Auli’i Cravalho), is killed in an unfortunate accident involving a hair straightener and electrocution, all she wants is Darby to help her cancel her 17th birthday party. It’s supposed to be the party of the year, and Capri doesn’t want a little thing like that Death to mess that up. And to complicate things further, Darby and Capri used to be BFFs. You know, back before Darby’s mother died and she started wearing all black and talking to ghosts and stuff.
The genius of Darby and the dead lies in the apparent simplicity of the script. The high-concept setup could easily have fallen victim to a convoluted, unnecessary plot; Instead, each decision is easy to make sense. Of course Capri died from straighteners – she’s a vain AF! Of course She now has extra strong spirit electricity powers – she electrocuted herself! It’s the kind of “no, duh” writing that every writer knows is actually both complicated and difficult to achieve, but makes for a smooth and easy viewing experience.
It helps that the cast is fantastic. Auli’i Cravalho in particular shines as the Gen Z version of Regina George. Many still know Cravalho as the sweet-faced Disney princess behind the voice of Moiana, it’s delightful to see her kill as a shallow, popular, mean girl. She is a natural comedic actress with a keen sense of timing. I laughed out loud when Darby confessed to Capri that growing up with dead people was difficult and Cravalho replied without hesitation: “Ok and? We all have luggage!”
I would be remiss not to mention that Darby and the deadwhile not perfect, makes a concerted effort to make the city public school student body actually look like a city public student body, with a black protagonist, a black love interest, and actors of black background. mean girls, despite all its cultural relevance to this day, is painfully outdated. (Remember “unfriendly black beauties?”) This teen movie formula was due for an upgrade, and Darby and the dead delivered in spades. You don’t want to sleep on this one.
