Alison Brie has always been underutilized in Hollywood. Her talents are much deeper than people give her credit for, and she almost always makes everything she’s in better. Most of her work was in TV, as key cast member on one of the best sitcoms ever, and leading her own Netflix show. Netflix partners with her again, as Brie stars in Horse Girl, which she helped write. Ewww! Get those sick thoughts out of your heads, teenage boys.
Brie plays Sarah, a tightly wound, VERY quiet girl who connects better with her recently sold horse than most humans, hence the new owners quickly wearying of her. With the encouragement of her coworker Joan (Molly Shannon), Sarah tries to go out for her birthday. With an assist from Sarah’s roommate Nikki (Debby Ryan), Sarah double dates and meets Darren (Matthew Gray Gubler), with whom she becomes instantly smitten, because she’s so introverted. All the while, Sarah starts sleepwalking, and having waking hallucinations of people she sees from time to time near her work.
Brie can now add screenwriter to her list of talents (along with co-writer Jeff Baena, also the director). Horse Girl is quite effective at showing someone slowly losing grip on reality. We first meet Sarah, and she’s simply not the type to divulge information about herself willingly, grieving from a couple of traumas that have happened to her recently. That’s ok if things are going well; but when things start to go strange, Sarah has very few people to bounce ideas off of, warping her sense of normalcy and tether to what is real. Joan and Nikki reign her in a little, but the more Sarah pushes the envelope, they push back, convincing Sarah that they are part of the system trying to keep her from the truth. You see Sarah connect patterns that don’t exist, and misinterpreting people’s words continuously because she’s so stunted. By placing Sarah front and center, Baena and Brie’s script has us feel unmoored by the end of Horse Girl, uncertain of what the hell is going on, moment to moment.
A lot of the script’s success relies on Alison Brie the actor committing to Alsion Brie, the writer’s screenplay. Brie takes another step outside of the box society puts around her, playing Sarah. Usually funny or the center of attention, Brie jumps at a chance to play someone very understated and shut off, clamping down her natural charisma. She’s up to the challenge, digging around to embody Sarah fully, selling us on the woman we see at the beginning, as well as the drastic arc the poor woman goes through. The talented actress finds emotional honesty for Sarah, when the character has none herself. Also breaking boxes is Molly Shannon, who’s making a great career for herself as an indie character actor.
The ending hurts the deep story Horse Girl is trying to tell, but not enough to make you thumbs down the movie you just watched. Alison Brie’s future is as bright as anyone’s and I hope she continues to take risks with her role choices like she does here. Who knows? We’re maybe a year or two away from Brie’s version of A Star Is Born, lauded by critics and putting her front and center at some awards ceremony.