Mouse (A PopEntertainment.com Movie Review)

PopEntertainment

5 days ago

4 min read

MOUSE (2026)

Starring Sophie Okonedo, Katherine Mallen Kupferer, Chloe Coleman, Tara Mallen, Beck Nolan, Iman Vellani, David Hyde Pierce, Addisyn Cain, Audrey Grace Marshall, Christopher R. Ellis, Patchez Black, Josh Bond, Kyleigh Box, Mary Kathryn Bryant, Barry Clifton, Alea Glassco, Raeden Greer, Madelyn Hendrickson, Mary Hollis Inboden and Duane Jackson.

Screenplay by Kelly O'Sullivan.

Directed by Kelly O'Sullivan and Alex Thompson.

Distributed by IFC. 120 minutes. Rated R.

Screened at the 2026 Philadelphia Film Festival.

I’m not going to lie; it is not often that you come across a film whose title does a worse job of preparing an audience for what the film is actually about. Despite its name, Mouse is a heartfelt coming-of-age drama about living with grief. The movie uses the vaguely insulting school nickname given to the lead character in the film as a title.

That character is Minnie (Katherine Mallen Kupferer), a slightly nerdy teen girl whose life-long best friend Callie (Chloe Coleman) is the prettiest and most talented girl in the school. Minnie hangs around the theater classes as Callie shines and becomes the lead in everything she tries out for. Most of the rest of the cool kids barely put up with Minnie for Callie’s sake, but kind of hate her in general – thus her nickname. (Minnie Mouse! Get it?)

However, Mouse isn’t a Mean Girls for the theater set. It is much subtler than that, much darker, and more affecting for it. It is a very human film, looking at love and loss and how a community comes to terms with sudden death.

That is because, early on in the film, Callie is killed in a tragic car crash. The rest of the film is about how Minnie – and Callie’s mother Helen (played heartbreakingly by Sophie Okonedo) – try haltingly to come to terms with the loss of the most important person in each of their lives.

Minnie starts to see Helen as a surrogate mother – particularly because she doesn’t exactly get along with her own mom (played by the young actress’ real-life parent, Tara Mallen). However, their relationship becomes increasingly co-dependent and not necessarily the best thing for either of them as they try to navigate their grief.

It may sound depressing – and in some ways it is, sometimes – but the sheer humanity of Mouse offers a respite, a note of hope even when things are blackest. This is real life being lived here, and there is some joy, humor and understanding even at the darkest moments.

The casting is spot on. Mallen Kupferer, who also starred in directors Kelly O'Sullivan and Alex Thompson’s last project Ghostlight, captures the tragedy, the neediness and the selfishness of Minnie. Her mother Tara Mallen also makes her character surprisingly layered – a woman who truly loves her daughter but does not always know how to show it.

Iman Vellani also steals several scenes as Kat, the video-store clerk who promises a new friendship – and maybe a bit more – for Minnie as she is trying to move forward. And David Hyde Pierce (beloved for years as Dr. Niles Crane in Frasier) seems to not have all that much to do throughout as the theater teacher but delivers a late monologue that is so full of pathos and empathy that it takes your breath away.

However, for all that fine acting, the film truly belongs to Okonedo, who gives the best performance in a film full of strong ones.

Okonedo navigates all of the diverse levels of Helen’s devastation – the loss of a child, the rupturing of her marriage, the feeling that everyone is walking on eggshells around her, and the sense of responsibility to be there for her daughter’s favorite person – creating the portrait of a woman who feels utterly hollowed out. It is difficult for any actor to pull off this kind of emotional heavy lifting, but Okonedo’s performance is particularly heartbreaking.

But again, for all of its sorrow and darkness, Mouse is ultimately an uplifting film. Minnie – and even Helen – may never get over the loss of Callie, but they are both doing their best to move on in their lives. Minnie finds love and empathy in other places – her new friend Kat and her surprising reconnection to her mother. And the community is there for them too. Even the one or two bullies in the school know that this is not the time to pile on.

Even Helen, in her own way, is trying to move forward in her life.

The film climaxes with a talent show in honor of Callie, in which Minnie decides to perform her friend’s favorite song – “One” from the musical A Chorus Line – even though she has never sung before.

Does Minnie pull the performance off? It doesn’t even really matter. What matters is that she is willing to put herself out there and try. Which, it turns out, is the true lesson of Mouse.

Jay S. Jacobs