Common Sense Media Review
By Jeffrey M. Anderson
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Soapy, illogical teen sci-fi drama has violence, swearing.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 15+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Watch
Videos and Photos
Multiverse
Parent and Kid Reviews
What's the Story?
In MULTIVERSE, university student Loretta (Paloma Kwiatkowski) is working on a way to communicate between alternate realities, hoping to perhaps find an exact duplicate of her own reality. Her best friends, Amy (Sandra Mae Frank) and Gerry (Munro Chambers), and her boyfriend, Danny (Robert Naylor), help her. After discovering that water enhances the signal, the foursome race to the nearest lake to continue the experiment, but they wind up getting in a car crash that kills Loretta. Five months later, the remaining friends have begun to adjust, but suddenly Loretta appears again as if nothing had ever happened. Before long, other strange things start happening, such as a mysterious intruder in Gerry's house and a phone call from the deaf Amy, who can suddenly hear. Can the friends solve this multiverse mystery?
Is It Any Good?
Quickly jettisoning its cosmic setup for a YA-style romance/murder/tragedy with soap opera-style emoting, this sci-fi dud hangs everything on its thin characters and even thinner storytelling. Multiverse, which was originally titled Entangled, continually skips logic in favor of cornball pathos. The biggest issue when Loretta first returns isn't so much how, why, or what she's going to do next, but the fact that (gasp!) Danny has started dating Amy in Loretta's absence. And the second Gerry arrives like a full-fledged murderous psychopath, with steely eyes and line delivery like a third-rate Hannibal Lecter. (How was he friends with anyone back in his own world?) Not to mention that Danny and Gerry look an awful lot alike; when their doubles arrive, it's easy to get confused.
The movie does get points for casting deaf actor Sandra Mae Frank as Amy; for her other-dimensional hearing counterpart, the filmmakers dubbed her voice with another actor. But the encounter between the two Amys is ridiculous and comes to nothing. Casting Oscar winner Marlee Matlin as Amy's mother also comes to nothing; all she does is reminisce over her dead husband and notice that the second Amy doesn't seem quite right. The only "visual" touch is the tattoos (reading "entangled") that the new versions of the characters all have to help distinguish them from the originals. If Multiverse had been able to handle its soapy drama with any kind of maturity or potency, it might have been fine for it to abandon logic. But as is, it's one to avoid.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about Multiverse's violence. How did it make you feel? Was it exciting? Shocking? What did the movie show or not show to achieve this effect? Why is that important?
Do you consider Amy a role model? Why, or why not? What about Loretta?
How are romance and sex depicted? What values are imparted?
Why do we often tell stories about the price paid when people meddle with nature? How do these stories apply to real life?
Movie Details
- In theaters : November 12, 2021
- On DVD or streaming : November 16, 2021
- Cast : Munro Chambers , Sandra Mae Frank , Paloma Kwiatkowski , Robert Naylor
- Director : Gaurav Seth
- Inclusion Information : Female Movie Actor(s)
- Studio : Saban Films
- Genre : Science Fiction
- Run time : 91 minutes
- MPAA rating :
- MPAA explanation : language throughout and some violence
- Last updated : December 2, 2021
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