Monsters of California

Teen sci-fi adventure film Monsters of California is the pet project of Blink-182 guitarist and singer Tom DeLonge. Full of conspiracy theories about aliens and dick jokes, it’s business as usual from the man who gave us the iconic emo moment “Where are you?”. 

Jack Samson plays Dallas, a rebellious teenager struggling to come to terms with the mysterious passing of his dad several years earlier. His strained relationship with his family, in particular his mother (Arianne Zucker), who is about to move on with a new partner, gets sidelined, however, when Dallas discovers some highly classified documents his father left for him. Bringing his stoner buddies Toe (Jack Lancaster) and Riley (Jared Scott), along with him, as well as newfound love interest Kelly (Gabrielle Haugh), Dallas goes in search of answers…and monsters. 

Like a foul-mouthed episode of Scooby Doo, Monsters of California struggles with genre identity. The sci-fi isn’t compelling enough, the comedy isn't funny enough, and the horror is not scary enough. Fortunately, the film contains a coming-of-age journey that Dallas is going on, trying to find his way in the world following the loss of his father. This emotional grounding keeps the film from straying into the completely cartoonish territory. 

Samson is a strong lead, his chemistry with Haugh works well and the pair enjoy a wonderful coffee shop meet-cute. Their scenes together are definitely some of the strongest in Monsters of California. The soundtrack is also great, with a moving score and some excellent punk rock injected for fans of DeLonge. It was also terrific to see Richard Kind rock up as a mysterious character in the film!

Given DeLonge’s long history of “Alien’s Exist” declarations, and his cosmic outpourings in the band Angels & Airwaves, the end result of this film feels a little underwhelming. The preachy dialogue, pothead jokes, and mild visual offerings just feel tepid, restrained. Give us something bolder and inspiring…Now I’m off to watch the music video for “The Adventure” on YouTube.