An sad existential story of alienation & rejection.
The Metamorphosis - Wikipedia
*Act 1:*
We meet our hero, MAX, a stressed-out 30-year-old architect from Brooklyn. He’s rather shy and unassertive. Easily intimidated. Yet, he feels very fortunate to be engaged to the lovely and dynamic SARAH.
One night, he's binge-watching a documentary on cuttlefish.
He is mesmerized by their shape-shifting abilities.
That night max has a super vivid dream where he morphs into a cuttlefish, flailing around his bedroom.
The next morning, he wakes up to find it's not a dream – he's now a giant cuttlefish with a Brooklyn accent.
Max panics, the first thing he does is call in sick to work, and tries to hide from his overbearing mother.
MAX:
I think I caught the flu, better stay away mom!”
She thinks he's just being a hypochondriac again.
He has worked remotely before. But now, he’s hysterically navigating video calls and his phone with his many facial tentacles.
MAX: (tentacles typing)
Yo, it's Max. I can't come in today, I'm... dealing with some cephalopod stuff.
But when Sarah comes over later that evening, things get messy. At first he refuses to open the door. She asks him if he’s going through a weird phase.
SARAH:
Is the stress of the wedding getting to you Honey?
He finally opens the door and at first she thinks he's wearing a ridiculous costume.
That’s until she sees him change color.
Sarah sees Max's tentacles, and freaks out.
SARAH:
Max! What's going on?!
MAX:(sheepishly)
I've been watching a lot of ocean documentaries...
SARAH:
“I told you not to eat those psychedelic mushrooms”!
*Act 2:*
Desperate to fix his situation, Max reluctantly ventures out at 3 AM, wearing a trenchcoat and sunglasses. He navigates Brooklyn's streets, causing chaos at an all-night diner, ordering a dozen pancakes, and eating them with his tentacles. He gets mistaken for one of those a costumed performers panhandling in Time Square.
WAITRESS:
You and your... outfit are weird.
MAX: (defensively)
It's my thing! I'm a performance artist!
Incredulously, by a miraculous coincidence, he stumbles across the eccentric DR. KWAN, a quirky marine biologist, out hunting at night for invasive species who may have escaped someone’s terrarium.
He is totally fascinated by Max's condition.
DR. KWAN:
You're a cephalopod! I've studied your species for years!
Dr. Kwan believes he can reverse the transformation, but needs Max's cooperation.
DR. KWAN:
However, You have to fully embrace your new cuttlefish self!”
They hatch a plan, but things get complicated when Sarah gives Max an ultimatum:
SARAH:
Max you better fix yourself or we're done.
*Act 3:*
Max and Dr. Kwan head for Prospect Park.
Max and Dr. Kwan discover that he can do children’s performances in the park, and they are are enthusiastically received by cheering kids and praised by their parents.
Max is simply adored by all the children.
Max is even
congratulated by several of the parents for kindling in their children
the love of live performances over screen time. Just as in their own
childhoods.
Parents:
Oh! Thank you Max for instilling in our children the beginning of a life long appreciation for live performance.
MAX:
Don't forget a love for cephalopods as well!
Max and Dr. Kwan then embark on further wild adventures.
After successfully entertaining children in Prospect Park, they decide to infiltrate a high-stakes architecture conference (where Max quickly impresses everyone with his unique cuttlefish design insights).
Max and Dr. Kwan impress the crowd of distinguished architects from all over the world.
MAX: (speaking enlarged on screen)
My many Tentacles allow for flexible thinking…..
Creating flexible structures..taken directly from nature.
Max’s architectural presentation is universally applauded and deemed an historic breakthrough in architectural thinking by incorporating naturally occurring structures.
The two are even given a lifetime achievement award!
Along the way, Dr. Kwan's unorthodox methods creates substantial publicity.
It presents Max with an existential crisis.
It is between his impending marriage with Sarah and his new public cuttlefish acceptance.
Max must decide what's more important:
Becoming human again or embracing his new, squishy luminescent self.
As the wedding day approaches, Max faces off with Sarah, who by now, has fallen deeply for his newly acquired tentacled charm and worldly sophistication.
However, Sarah can't handle Max’s own uncertainty.
In a hilarious finale, Max turns the tables, using his cuttlefish powers to win Sarah back and teach her (and the audience) that true love means accepting whatever shape you're in.
Sarah faces Max, whom has become accustomed by by now to his cuttlefish form.
SARAH:
I love you, but...
MAX: (changes color, from violet to heartfelt reddish, a cuttlefish sign of true love).
This is me now. All of me.”
SARAH: (Sarah smiles in cuttlefish recognition)
Okay. I’m in!!!
The movie ends with Sarah embracing in her mind's eye, both the former human Max and his new Cuttlefish self.
The End
Suggestive Cast:
- Max (Jason Sudeikis)
- Sarah (Zooey Deschanel)
- Dr. Kwan (Ken Jeong)
Tone of movie:
Fast-paced, totally absurd, and heartwarmingly human.
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