"Bad Milo!" takes potty humor to a whole new level. Ken (Ken Marino) has some issues with stress. His father abandoned him long ago, his boss sets him up with a new office (the old bathroom) and wants him to handle the company layoffs, and his mom dates men who are practically the same age as him. And his wife Sarah (Gillian Jacobs) just wants to have a baby. Well, Milo is sort of like a baby.
Ken's stress manifests itself in the form of a homicidal monster that resides in his rear end. Ken dubs it Milo, and anytime his stress gets the best of him, Milo pops out and eviscerates the person causing him stress. One would think that such a premise would make for some decent gore, at the very least. Alas; except for one particular scene, the carnage is limited to a lot of blood. One could argue that there are more feces flying around than blood.
There are a few times in "Bad Milo!" where the viewer gets a first-perspective from the stress spawn's point of view. Like all of the elements it has at its disposal, its a novelty that doesn't seem to serve much purpose. The funniest part of the film is actually an outtake: Kumail Nanjiani improvises his way through some dialogue while the credits roll (there actually seemed to be quite a lot of riffing going on, given the amount of material shared). Watching a little butt monster run around and slaughter people sure isn't scary, and those moments utilize the most obvious horror cliches briefly and halfheartedly. The premise is unique, and the supporting cast is respectable (Peter Stormare, Patrick Warburton, Stephen Root, and Mary Kay Place, just to name a few), so what went wrong?
"Bad Milo!" seems more concerned with what is gross than what is funny. Its aim leans toward comedy far more than horror, but it seems off the mark on both sides. And when the ending is played about as straight-faced as it gets, it's even more confirmation that the screenplay exists on uneven ground. Who would have thought that a film about a fetus-like, colon dwelling monster with unquenchable bloodlust would be somewhat boring? Not this guy. But sadly, it is, and "Bad Milo!" will go down as one of the more forgettable entries this year.
