Certificate: 15 (strong language, sex, sex references, violence).
Running Time: 105 mins.
UK Distributor: Prime Video
WHO’S IN BEAUTIFUL DISASTER?
Dylan Sprouse, Virginia Gardner, Austin North, Libe Barer, Neil Bishop, Micky Dartford, Jack Hesketh, Declan Laird, Trevor Von Uden, Brian Austin Green, Rob Estes
WHO’S BEHIND THE CAMERA?
Roger Kumble (director, writer, producer), Mark Clayman, Jonathan Deckter and Brian Pitt (producers), Sam Ewing (composer), Joshua Reis (cinematographer), Matthew Rundell (editor)
WHAT IS BEAUTIFUL DISASTER ABOUT?
A college freshman (Gardner) meets a local playboy and underground fighter (Sprouse)…
WHAT ARE MY THOUGHTS ON BEAUTIFUL DISASTER?
Until one week ago, I had absolutely no idea what Beautiful Disaster even was – and now, having actually seen the film, I still don’t.
I did do a bit of research when I first saw it listed on local cinema times, and quickly found that it is an adaptation of author Jamie McGuire’s 2012 novel of the same name, which itself belongs to a fairly new genre of books known as “New Adult” (abbreviated as NA from hereon). Unlike most Young Adult/YA novels like Twilight and The Fault in Our Stars, NA literature appeals more toward those in their late teens-to-late 20s, which means that the language is coarser, the themes are darker (but not necessarily more mature), and the sexual content often borders on pure erotica – think of most NA books as Fifty Shades of Grey but not exactly for hot-and-bothered middle-aged housewives.
I also discovered that, while Beautiful Disaster is considered to be one of the pioneering NA novels, it is also meant to be, well, pretty rubbish; most reviews are quick to point out the problematic morals and toxic personality traits that the book seems to celebrate, which isn’t helped by McGuire’s alarmingly racist and transphobic social media posts that put her far-right mentality on full display.
Because of that, many of you will probably have made up your mind about whether you want to see Beautiful Disaster or not, since the movie shares the same horrific ideals as both the book and its author – but I would make the argument that you should. Not because it’s good – in fact, it is pretty dire – but because it’s so bizarre and utterly insane with its tone, plotting, characterisation and messages, that you almost have to see it to know how uncategorisable it actually is.
The film opens with a young woman named Abby Abernathy (Virginia Gardner) leaving her hometown of Las Vegas – where she apparently made a name for herself as a child poker prodigy known as “Lucky 13”, under the tutelage of her deadbeat father Mick (Brian Austin Green) – to start afresh at a college in Sacramento, California. She soon becomes acquainted with Travis “Mad Dog” Maddox (Dylan Sprouse), an underground MMA fighter and campus playboy whose vulgar mannerisms quickly disgust her.
However, she’s nonetheless attracted to him, because the thought of his ripped body staining her shirt with his opponent’s blood gets her off in the show (yes, really). She foolishly makes a bet that if he wins an upcoming fight, she has to stay with him in his bed for a month; she of course loses that bet, and even more predictably the two of them end up developing feelings for each other as they spend more time together.
From that, you might be picturing a sombre, moody tone not unlike most other YA or NA books and adaptations, or in the case of writer/director Kumble similar to his previous films Cruel Intentions and After We Collided. However, rather unexpectedly, Beautiful Disaster is a full-on outlandish comedy, in the exact same vein as the director’s Just Friends or The Sweetest Thing. There are gags in this movie that range from sitcom-friendly to weirdly juvenile, with much of the dialogue feeling as though it’s been constructed to be followed immediately by an audience laugh track, but for some reason they forgot to put that in.
Then, there are certain comedic moments that are either heavily telegraphed (take a wild guess what ends up happening when a character drinks too much and is in close proximity to another person’s face) or jaw-droppingly bonkers, such as a sex scene where a hotel room is completely and utterly trashed, and – in perhaps the most unexpected detour in this film – a physical comedy sequence involving an erect penis.
This lighter-than-expected tone clashes greatly with the typical sultry romance conventions one normally finds in this kind of book (and to clarify, I have no idea if the original book is also this deranged with its tone), to where you’re not sure if it’s meant to either be genuine or a parody, which sometimes can be more hilarious to think about than watching the actual comedy, which is often pretty obnoxious to sit through.
Because it is supposed to be a comedy (I think, anyway), that implies we’re supposed to laugh at and somehow connect with the characters and their ultimate ideals, even though they’re far from funny or endearing. For one, this main romantic relationship is very uncomfortable to watch, because it hinges on a rather sweet young woman being constantly degraded, patronised, and controlled by this extremely unappealing guy, until she learns to accept it and be his subservient partner because, y’know, he’s hot.
Admittedly, actors Virginia Gardner and Dylan Sprouse are clearly not sleepwalking through this, giving energetic performances that does bring out some decent chemistry between them, but their characters are extremely hard to root for, especially Sprouse’s Travis who is, by all accounts, a douchebag in the most extreme of senses. He’s brash, rude, deeply misogynistic, and above all creepy; he’s the kind of guy who forces someone to go on a date with them, throws a hissy fit when he goes through her texts and sees she’s been messaging someone else, and at one point tracks her down all the way over in Las Vegas (where, suddenly, it becomes a mobster/heist movie for the third act).
There’s nothing charming or endearing about this guy – other than Sprouse’s committed performance – because he’s an abusive creep who nobody would want to be around, and yet he’s supposed to be the one who Gardner’s Abby wants to be with, even after her verbally berates her and effectively claims her as his property.
It’s here where you can tell that the original book was written by someone with far-right leaning views, because the kind of toxic mentality that you often find in fringe alt-right groups such as the Proud Boys are being glorified and celebrated here through Sprouse’s character, to where it’s frightening that he’s being depicted as the peak of masculinity in this universe. Furthermore, it’s also in a film that is already so difficult to classify on account of its bizarre shifts in tone and plotting, but is also too dumb to be self-aware of its own fatal flaws, which makes it confusingly bad.
Honestly, I have the same feeling about Beautiful Disaster as I did with last year’s A Madea Homecoming, where I was just so taken aback by the madness of it all that I didn’t know whether to condemn it or, more perversely, respect it. It’s a movie that I honestly have a hard time believing exists, because it’s so backwards and of a different era that it sticks out like a sore thumb in 2023, and not in a good way.
SO, TO SUM UP…
Beautiful Disaster is a confoundingly bad NA book adaptation that surprisingly opts for obnoxious comedy over the expected dour romance tone, and glorifies toxic personality traits that make the central couple hard to root for, especially Dylan Sprouse’s abusive, controlling, and overall unappealing romantic lead.
