Killing Mary Sue (2025)
Written & Directed by James Sunshine
Produced by Jonathan Sachar, Dave Lugo, Larry Layfield, Patrick Durham
Not Rated, 1hr 38m

On the surface, it's a silly premise: Mary Sue Harper (Sierra McCormick) is the troublemaker step-daughter of Senator Bradley Weiner (Durmot Mulroney), who's re-election campaign is suffering because Mary Sue keeps getting into all manner of trouble with her sex, drugs, and rock 'n roll lifestyle. So he decides the only way to eliminate the political problem is to eliminate Mary Sue.

But it turns out, Mary Sue is remarkably hard to kill. Because... well, Mary Sue.

It's an action comedy straight out of the 80s, with tongue planted firmly in cheek as Mary Sue uses her Fortnite skills to fight off the various assassin squads, facilitated by Knox (Martin Kove). Starting with the legendary assassin Cable Henry (Sean Patrick Flanery), the attacks escalate to the point of the ridiculous. The bullets and the blood (copious amounts, mind you, all fake) fly as Mary Sue takes matters into her own hands to fend off danger at every turn.

Made with a very low budget, shot just weeks before the actors strike, Killing Mary Sue is a throwback to those over-the-top straight-to-VHS flicks we had in the 80s, like Lovely But Deadly or Ninja III: The Domination — drive-in schlock with heart and a sense of fun driving all the performances. It's a pretty good bet everyone had fun on this shoot, even the ones who did it for the paycheck before the strike kept them from working.

Oddly enough, it's Jake Busey who gives an unexpectedly low-key performance as the Senator's campaign manager Wes, who would happily off the little brat himself. Well, it's low-key for Busey, anyway...

The idea of a Mary Sue character originated in Star Trek fan fiction many moons ago, and now has several iterations and variations, but essentially the core definition of the type has remained the same: a female character who seemingly has all of the skills and abilities, which she hasn't earned, and no discernable flaws or weaknesses. Originally written as a parody of a trend Paula Smith noticed while editing the fanzine Menagerie, the concept has transcended fan fiction and now applies to those female lead characters — usually a self-insert — who can do pretty much anything all while being protected by Plot Armor.

Writer/director James Sunshine deliberately leaned into the absurdity of the Mary Sue archetype, giving his lead character an uncanny ability to escape death with ease, handle weapons better than your average Navy Seal, and spout F-bomb laden snark with the best of 'em. Of course she's the best at everything.

But to balance that, she's got a major flaw, and it's almost her undoing. That gives this Mary Sue an added layer that you normally don't find in the Kathleen Kennedy self-inserts of the world: a vulnerability that someone learns to exploit. You start out rooting for the girl because of the absurdity of the premise, and it's just silly fun, but then you get a chance to see that emotion-driven layer.

As the danger mice continue to circle Mary Sue, escalating the danger, at the same time tension is rising for the Senator, who finds his own situation growing more and more dangerous as his step-daughter continues to be Not Dead. What would happen if his opponent found out he's been using Mary Sue as a go-between with the Russian banana farm oligarch Volkov (French Stewart)?

It's absurd. It's a little more f-bomby than I usually care to see. The violence is cartoonishly over the top with the guns that almost never have to reload... But it's a fun stomp through a style of filmmaking that's almost not done anymore, and it's well worth the trip.