As an actress, Maggie Gyllenhaal has a body of work that is as prolific as it is diverse, having been in everything from huge studio tentpoles like The Dark Knight to tiny indies like Frank, from awards-bait like Crazy Heart to quirky festival favorites like Cecil B. Demented. Behind the camera, she made her feature directorial debut a few years back when she made the subtly dark The Lost Daughter. Now, she’s swinging to the other side of the fence with her follow-up, the decidedly unsubtle The Bride!.
The Bride! is, as one might suspect, a retelling of the Bride of Frankenstein story. Set in the 1930s, it begins with Frankenstein’s Monster (American Psycho’s Christian Bale) seeking out Dr. Euphronius (Annette Bening from Nyad) because he is lonely. He asks the “mad scientist” to make him a mate, and she reluctantly agrees. The odd couple finds itself digging up a fresh grave, stealing the corpse of a recently dead young woman named Ida (who may or may not be possessed by the spirit of Mary Shelley herself) and “rejuvenating” her into the undead Penelope, Penny for short (Hamnet’s Jessie Buckley).
So, Frank and the newly reanimated Pretty Penny go on a wild and reckless crime spree that takes them from Chicago to New York and back again, only stopping in theaters to watch movies that feature Frank’s favorite star, Ronnie Reed (Presumed Innocent’s Jake Gyllenhaal, who happens to be Maggie’s brother). The pair’s exploits gain the attention of two detectives named Myrna Mallow (Penélope Cruz from Parallel Mothers) and Jake Wiles (September 5’s Peter Sarsgaard, who happens to be Maggie’s husband). But they also gain the attention of a gang of criminals as well as the general public when their rampage turns them into cult heroes.
Essentially, The Bride! is a souped-up version of a Universal Moster movie – think The Shape of Water or The Invisible Man. It’s a very expensive B-movie, packed with A-list talent both in front of and behind the camera. But each and every one of those A-listers completely understands the kind of movie they are making. The Bride! is complete schlock, but it’s very slick, well-made schlock.
The one thing that viewers can expect from The Bride! is that it won’t be what they expect. It’s hard enough to follow, much less predict. There’s a spontaneous dance sequence in the middle of the film, for crying out loud! Frank and Penny’s exploits take them places both disturbing and magical, like one surreal fever dream after another.
And the only way a movie this wild and crazy could work is if everyone involved commits to their part entirely. And luckily for The Bride!, they do. Jessie Buckley is as transformative as ever, basically playing three roles in one (Ida, Penelope, and “Mary Shelley”). Christian Bale gives a fearless performance as Frank the monster. Annette Bening plays her mad scientist completely straight-faced. There isn’t a hint of irony in any of the performances, and that’s what makes them so great. Not one of the actors seems ashamed to have been cast in this B-Movie. They’re all in.
The one knock on The Bride! (and it’s a pretty big one) is that, at just over two hours (2:06 to be precise), it feels long. The first 90 minutes or so are brisk and tight, but then it gets a little too exposition-y. The exposition does fill in some holes and answers some questions (while simultaneously raising a few more), but it’s a lot of spoken, Bond villain-type of exposition. The horror film turns into a talkie. And while it doesn’t completely kill the momentum, it does slow things down a lot, and right at the point where most viewers start getting fatigued anyway.
The Bride! is a wild ride. If anyone was looking for a movie that starts as Frankenstein before going through Thelma & Louise and ending up as The Legend of Billie Jean, a pitch-black comedy that pays tribute to classic Hollywood musicals as much as it does gothic horror, this may be the movie for them. One thing is for sure, love it or hate it, there’s nothing quite like it. Maggie Gyllenhaal has made a movie as erratic as her own body of work. It will be exciting to see what Maggie the Director does next.
GRADE: B
Rating: R for sexual content, nudity, language, strong/bloody violent content
Runtime: 2 hours 6 minutes
Release Date: March 6, 2026
Studio: Warner Bros. Pictures
The post The Bride! Review: Christian Bale and Jessie Buckley Shine in Gyllenhaal’s Gothic Fever Dream appeared first on ShowbizJunkies.
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