Ryan Reynolds is chillingly perfect as a nice-guy factory worker struggling with schizophrenia and murderous impulses in this tonally wild indie, which is nearly too horrifying to be funny — but not quite. His Jerry, who has stopped taking his meds, is counseled by his pets (both voiced by Reynolds): Mr. Whiskers, a sadistic, Scottish-brogued tabby; and Bosco, an affable mastiff. (As in life, the cat dominates.)
Director Marjane Satrapi is also an author of graphic novels and her third film reflects a comic artist’s eye in its careful framing and splashes of surreal color. Gemma Arterton and Anna Kendrick gamely play Jerry’s unfortunate love interests and Jacki Weaver his beleaguered therapist. Satrapi moves seamlessly between the seriously gory and the gleefully absurd, even throwing in a David Lynchian sequence with an Elvis impersonator in a small-town Chinese restaurant. Not for the squeamish or easily offended, but a demented delight for those who like their films hard to categorize.