Screenwriter Max Landis transfigures the backstory of Mary Shelley’s almighty monster-maker into a set-bound action/adventure/horror/buddy comedy told from the POV of the cutest lil’ hunchback this side of Disney’s bell-ringer. Daniel Radcliffe plays the abscess-backed circus clown (possessed with a surgeon’s steady hand) plucked from under the big top by an admiring James McAvoy. The latter’s “You’re not a clown! You’re a physician!” and Radcliffe’s subsequent de-humping provide the biggest laughs, both of which land early in the proceedings. McAvoy gives it his best Vincent Price, but the high concept genre pileup needed a stronger hand to hold and stitch this monster together. Landis’ framework never allows director Paul McGuigan (Wicker Park, Push) a center ring to which he can direct an audience's’ attention. If nothing else, you’re bound to enjoy it more than I, Frankenstein. With Jessica Brown Findlay as the girl in the picture (and a well-played nod to Mel Brooks). (2015) — Scott Marks
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