A24’s Death Of A Unicorn has been on my list ever since it showed up on the 2025 movie release calendar, but it was one of those titles that I missed in theaters. Since it recently became available to stream on HBO Max, I finally checked it out, and I actually have a lot to say about Paul Rudd’s character. Elliot Kintner is one of the most unruly and unhinged protagonists I’ve seen in a while, and I need to unpack his crimes. As you can imagine, there’s a lot of SPOILERS ahead!
I Feel Like Death Of A Unicorn Wants To Be An Endearing Father-Daughter Movie, But It Is Not That
Look, I’m all for nuanced characters, but Death of a Unicorn didn’t exactly check those boxes for me, especially considering the relationship at the center of the twisted horror-comedy. Now, I’d read CinemaBlend’s 4-star Death of a Unicorn review and some meddling critic thoughts about the Jenna Ortega movie, but nothing prepared me for the odd experience of the film itself.
The movie starts off with Rudd and Ortega’s characters of Elliot and Ridley heading over to the Canadian Rockies to visit the estate of Elliot’s boss, but in its inciting moment of conflict, the dad character runs over a unicorn and then proceeds to beat it up?!! Why? I have absolutely no idea. He then decides to store the poor thing in his SUV and take it with them to the estate, so that he can bury it later or something like that? However, what happens instead is he successfully angers the baby unicorn's family, and his bosses decide to bleed it dry after they figure out unicorns have mystical healing powers.
At the same time, Death of a Unicorn is attempting to weave in a plotline about the dad/daughter who seem like they’ve been going through a rough patch since the death of Elliot’s wife and Ridley’s mom. That’s all well and good, but there’s a difference between having a flawed dad who doesn’t know what to do with a unicorn and the straight-up psychopath Rudd ends up playing here.
I'm Sorry But There’s No Way I’m Forgiving Paul Rudd’s Character In Death Of A Unicorn
Elliot proceeds to completely ignore his daughter, who is being completely fair and logical over the idea to perhaps not torture this poor animal further, and he’s more worried about finding stability in his career. Look, I know that being a single dad is hard, but later in the movie, he proceeds to stab and kill Will Poulter’s character, who was very much a highlight of the movie as the son of his boss. And, that's definitely not an action that's going to help with that objective...
The movie ends with Elliot and Ridley being hauled away by the police and probably going to jail, but they are all laughs and giggles about the whole thing. The end seems to suggest the unicorns are going to save them, but that makes zero sense, considering Elliot is the one who started this unicorn war to begin with. I honestly would have been more satisfied if Ridley had gotten very far away from her father.
Anyways, I needed to vent about this bonkers movie! While I guess I appreciate Rudd going against type, his character just felt like it only existed to cause chaos, and I wasn’t here for it.
