'Death of a Unicorn' Spins a Modern-Day Parable

Deep in the presumably Canadian wilderness, servile executive Elliot (Paul Rudd) and Gen-Z-coded daughter Ridley (Jenna Ortega) abruptly encounter two things that shouldn’t exist: a young unicorn and health care billionaire Odell Leopold (Richard E. Grant).

Distracted by pollen and waning cell service, Elliot hits the innocent beast with a hefty Volvo SUV while on the way to ink a company-succession deal from Leopold, gaunt from terminal cancer and grimly facing his cryogenically frozen afterlife. Ridley bonds with the animal, whose smeared blood magically heals her acne. Leopold — flanked by his do-gooder wife Belinda (Téa Leoni) and dilettante hedonist son Shepard (Will Poulter) — marvels at the curative miracle, and you can guess who wants what from whom. 

At its sharpest, Death of a Unicorn skillfully enmeshes fairy-tale foreboding with humans’ very real obsession with exploiting the planet for personal gain. Writer and director Alex Scharfman presses this button for the film’s dialogue-heavy first half, setting the movie up as an allegory for the ongoing destruction of nature and the stubborn denial thereof by the powerful. 

Early in the movie, staring at the unicorn carcass, Elliot and the Leopolds analyze and theorize, determining that it resembles some sort of single-horned horse.

“It’s a fucking unicorn,” says a bewildered Ridley, the first and only character to acknowledge what they can all see in front of them. Things quickly start to unravel. 

Rudd’s Elliot succeeds as an earnest buffoon thanks to the comedy legend’s career-making deadpan. Ortega continues a recent string of charming, brooding performances. Together, they play out the movie’s core intergenerational tension. While Elliott maneuvers to ensure a financially stable future for his daughter, Ridley just wants her dad on her side — that's the movie’s most compelling plot line, and a familiar grievance of today’s youth. 

“I need you to keep it together and act like everything is fine,” Elliot tells his daughter after they dent their car on the magical roadkill. 

Unfortunately, the relationship often feels like an afterthought among the film’s competing priorities. Leopold tries to capitalize from nature’s bounty. Shepard smokes, snorts and drinks his way through the crisis, while Belinda plays peacemaker. Ridley, armed with a vape, taps her knowledge of art history and YouTube as the forest seeks its revenge on the humans. Like many of us, Elliot struggles with his convictions for far too long as the movie’s heavy-handed metaphors quickly give way to a gory battle between man and beast.