Unicorn Store

Name: Unicorn Store
Genre: Drama, Fantasy, Comedy
Released: April 5, 2019
Duration: 92 min
Rating: 44
Cast: Annaleigh Ashford, Bradley Whitford, Brie Larson, Emily Robinson, Hamish Linklater

2019

METASCORE

Mixed or average reviews based on 16 Critic Reviews

See All

USER SCORE

Generally unfavorable reviews based on 127 Ratings

See All

3.2

VOTE NOW

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

3.2	Your Score
3.2	User Score Generally unfavorable reviews based on 127 Ratings

Would you like to write a review?

There is a 75 character minimum for reviews. If your review contains spoilers, please check the Spoiler box. Please do not use ALL CAPS. There is no linking or other HTML allowed. Your review may be edited for content. 0/5000

Check box if your review contains spoilers

Play Sound

Please enter your birth date to watch this video:

You are not allowed to view this material at this time.

Unicorn Store

Now Playing: Unicorn Store

Movie Details & Credits

Netflix | Release Date (Streaming): April 5, 2019 | TV-PG

Starring: Annaleigh Ashford, Bradley Whitford, Brie Larson, Emily Robinson, Hamish Linklater, Joan Cusack, Karan Soni, Mamoudou Athie, Martha MacIsaac, Mary Holland, Ryan Hansen, Samuel L. Jackson, Susan Park

Summary: A woman named Kit receives a mysterious invitation that would fulfill her childhood dreams.

Director: Brie Larson

Genre(s): Drama, Fantasy, Comedy

Rating: TV-PG

Runtime: 92 min

See All Details and Credits

Watch Now

Stream On

Metascore

Positive:

Mixed:

Negative:

Critic Reviews

Christopher Machell

Mar 19, 2019

A super sweet, affecting comedy with a magical premise and a terrific central performance from Larson herself. Read full review

Tim Grierson

Mar 19, 2019

Larson navigates through a cute story’s clear limitations to deliver a film that’s often quite funny, even if it sometimes flirts with being cringe-worthy. Read full review

The Playlist Kevin Jagernauth

While the film may not entirely hang together, the stakes are low, and its bright spots point toward a promising future for the behind the camera talent. Read full review

Jesse Hassenger

Apr 4, 2019

The world, the movie seems to be saying, expends a lot of energy on blithely incoherent messages to women, based on half-baked ideas rather than their actual experiences. As it turns out, Unicorn Store does the same thing. Read full review

Scott Tobias

Apr 8, 2019

The message here is that there’s no one-size-fits-all formula for adulthood, but the film doesn’t bear it out. Read full review

The Guardian Benjamin Lee

Mar 19, 2019

As a film-maker, Larson shows promise, and as a comic actor she shows genuine talent. With a less affected, more genuine script, Larson could star in and direct a great comedy. Unicorn Store is not it. Read full review

Wes Greene

Apr 1, 2019

Brie Larson’s directorial debut is nothing so much as a series of quirks. Read full review

SEE ALL 16 REVIEWS

Write a Review

User Reviews

douglasadams

Apr 6, 2019

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Unicorn Store is a mystical movie with surprising amount of depth in it.
From the surface it feels odd and weird and definitely isn't a movie for everyone.
But for those who it is, it's truly a magical movie.

Brie Larson's approach certainly is unique and definitely self-conscious. Every second of the Unicorn Store was thought out to serve as a little piece in a larger whole and the end result is an emotional story of personal growth.

That being said, Unicorn Story isn't a movie for everyone. In a way it's an adventure movie made for adults with highly specific themes to go through, and for those who these themes don't bring any emotions, it can be too much to grasp or nothing to grasp at all - resulting in an experience that doesn't bring anything to the table. Nevertheless, it's a masterpiece built with attention to detail creating a feeling that world has much more to it than being a piece of machinery with replaceable parts.… Expand

4 of 34 users found this helpful430

bigitup

Jul 10, 2021

beautiful movie
very artistic and fun
beautiful fantasy movie
brie larson is the geekiest it girl ever

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

Made-on-Ameland

Nov 24, 2021

This films will be of great appeal for a certain public. To others it will be appalling, but that is not the error of the film. This tells you more about the ones who give the negative critique. To me the film celebrates free will in arts and it explains the reason why I didn't go to artThis films will be of great appeal for a certain public. To others it will be appalling, but that is not the error of the film. This tells you more about the ones who give the negative critique. To me the film celebrates free will in arts and it explains the reason why I didn't go to art school... The funny and also sad thing is that negative reviews confirm what the film is about. Really difficult theme for some people, applause for Brie Larson and crew who did get it!… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

Petjon

Apr 28, 2019

Just... Bad... Like not funny bad watch it to get drunk bad just shut off bad.
The story summed up is pretty much "Girl want to be a fantastical artist and get a unicorn"
and thats the whole movie, she doesnt learn anything, no growth, nothing.

1 of 2 users found this helpful11

kszweda

Apr 13, 2019

Worst piece of garbage I ever seen. It is boring and not funny at all. Stay away !!!

5 of 6 users found this helpful51

kentsangcanada

Apr 7, 2019

bad acting directed by bad director Brie Larson, Trash movie waste of time garbage movie

11 of 13 users found this helpful112

Jackmiller

Apr 7, 2019

Brie Larson’s directorial debut, Unicorn Store, is nothing so much as a series of quirks. In the film, Larson plays Kit, an immature art school dropout with an affinity for unicorns who’s moved back into to her parents’ house. After trying to get the ball rolling on an independent existenceBrie Larson’s directorial debut, Unicorn Store, is nothing so much as a series of quirks. In the film, Larson plays Kit, an immature art school dropout with an affinity for unicorns who’s moved back into to her parents’ house. After trying to get the ball rolling on an independent existence by acquiring a temp job at a PR firm, Kit makes the magical acquaintance of the mysterious Salesman (Samuel L. Jackson), who promises that, if she can prove to him that she has what it takes to care for a unicorn, he can get her one.

In portraying how Kit shoulders her adult responsibilities, the film attempts to give a realistic sense of how an unrealistic childhood fantasy can be sustained. But the film is much more interested in emphasizing the comedic whimsy of Kit’s misadventures than detailing the real-world problems she faces that will help her to mature. In this regard, Unicorn Store inadvertently becomes a celebration of its central character’s infantilism.

There’s a tonal imbalance to the way Larson depicts the obstacles Kit faces. Some of the narrative’s darker elements, such as sexual harassment at Kit’s PR firm, are treated with the same fanciful lightheartedness that marks Kit’s process of preparing for her prospective unicorn. Larson frames these harsh realities not as learning experiences, but as offhand jokes that Kit ultimately shrugs off due to her devil-may-care attitude. The film even includes a compelling subplot of Kit working on an advertising campaign that perpetuates moldy female stereotypes, but any potential this creates for Kit’s maturation is lost amid the spectacle of showing how she retains a sense of childlike wonder in a straight-laced, adult world.
Kit is characterized by a center-of-the-universe mindset that the film is largely unwilling to confront. In fact, it’s as if her parents (Joan Cusack and Bradley Whitford) exist only to enable her behavior, a trait consistent with their depiction as hapless, uncool geezers. Which is why it feels so baffling when, in an uncharacteristically selfless act, Kit moves on from the idea of owning a unicorn by allowing someone else to have the one promised to her. And because of this one sacrifice, Unicorn Store believes that Kit is cured of her childishness.

But the effect of this presumably grown-up act is curbed by the fact that Kit’s friend, Virgil (Mamoudou Athie), has turned what was to be the unicorn stable in Kit’s backyard into what’s essentially a shrine to his friend. Packed to the gills with her childhood artworks, the stable is intended as a cute reminder to Kit that she can still hang onto her inner child, though mostly it scans as a creepy effigy to the crippling effects of Peter Pan syndrome.… Expand

14 of 14 users found this helpful140

SEE ALL 36 REVIEWS